The Dark Wizards are Rising
by angryboyy
Summary: Once the Dark Lord had heard about the Prophecy, he knew what he had to do. He went to Godric's Hollow to kidnap Harry Potter and make him his son so the boy would trust him and be on his side. The boy that was destined to be as powerful as him would be helping the Dark Lord. Full Summary Inside. Dark!Harry Powerful!Harry Dark Prince. EDITED
1. Prologue

Summary: **After the Dark Lord takes Harry in, he grows up as his son alongside his blood adopted, twin brother. They are tutored under the Dark Lord and grow up with inner circle Death Eater children. When the triwizard Tournament comes up and the Dark sees it as an advantage to them. Harry is sent to Hogwarts and they take over.**

 **Sorry for the vague summary, I didn't want to spoil anything. Enjoy!**

Godric's Hollow

October 31st, 1981

Lily rocked her son soothingly in his crib, for being only a year old the raven-haired boy was one huge bundle of energy and it always took forever to get him to settle down at night. He was just like his father, James Potter, in that way. Lily smiled affectionately, sighing with relief as Harry's eyes began to droop and he finally drifted off. Harry was always so peaceful when he slept, he was her little angel. His crib rocked softly, soothing the little boy into a deep tranquil sleep. The calming nursery mobile turned slowly above Harry's crib and the dancing sugar plum fairies sparkled in the pale moonlight.

Even at the late hour, James was still out with Sirius and Remus doing heaven only knows what while Peter was off at the Ministry of Magic working overtime at his new job. He has just received a job offer from them out of the blue, probably from Sirius and James's thorough recommendations. Peter was excited about it, but he always seemed on the nervous and jittery side whenever he was asked questions about it so nobody really knew exactly what he was up too.

Ever since Dumbledore had taken them to their safe house James had been bored out of his mind. Considering that he couldn't go to his job and his friends weren't allowed to visit, it was no wonder. He was always pacing around and looking for something to do until had Lily finally had enough. She'd talked to Dumbledore and he had allowed James to go out with his closest friends for the night, just so he would stop complaining and get it out of his system, but he was only to go _if_ they stayed strictly at muggle areas. The last thing they needed was for the Death Eaters to get wind of the fact that he was out of hiding, even if it was just for the night. Dumbledore assured them that the wards around Godric's Hollow were locked up tight and the fact that nobody even knew where they were put Lily's mind to ease. She wouldn't let it show, but she was terrified. She didn't want to lose her baby or her husband, she wouldn't let it happen.

Lily slowly stood from her chair next to Harry's crib and leaned down to press a soft kiss to her son's forehead, smiling as she brushed his hair away from his face in a loving gesture, before leaving the nursery to head back towards the bedroom she and James shared. Even with it being dark and quiet the house seemed to radiate warmth and love, a perfect place to go to feel welcome. The night was so peaceful and calm, everything seemed normal. Nothing out of place, or so they had thought.

After half an hour of reading and waiting for James to arrive back home Lily had finally succumbed to sleep, unfortunately, for the light side at least, the perfect time for the one they had all tried so hard to escape to make his move.

The Dark Lord apparated to the outskirts of Godric's Hollow, one thing firmly in place in his mind, to kidnap the one-year-old child that slept peacefully in the house before him. His own son was home, awaiting his new twin brother. The prophecy clearly stated that the Potter child would be the only one able to stop him, but why kill him if he has so much power?

The more cunning decision would be to kidnap him and treat him as his own, making the boy think he was the Dark Lord's son so he would never dream of killing his own father. And Voldemort was nothing if not cunning, that's what made him a Slytherin at heart. With the added support of Lycoris, Harry's soon-to-be new brother, the green-eyed boy would never falter from the dark side.

The Dark Lord had been planning this night in great detail for months, ever since the idea had been placed in his mind, and with the help of Severus Snape, his trusted follower, it had all became possible. He had assigned Snape to be his spy at Hogwarts and pretend to double cross him just to earn Dumbledore's trust.

Snape had begged him to not kill Lily and since he was one of his most valuable spies and had always been faithful, the Dark Lord had decided to give him this for his service and as a gift for his months of help on his plan to kidnap Harry. He said he wouldn't kill Lily if she stayed out of his way, and hopefully, for Severus's sake, she would.

The Dark Lord closed his eyes and felt the wards around the place. They were strong, but the Dark Lord had a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He bypassed every ward that was put on the manor and soon the wards fell. The order would be notified, but the Dark Lord would be gone with his new son before they would get there.

"Silencio," The Dark Lord muttered upon entering the grounds of the Potter's house, casting the spell on himself and instantly silencing his footsteps. When he pushed open the gate it creaked like it had been used a thousand times, even the creak was wearing out. He walked down the path of the garden toward the house, the night air suddenly becoming eerily quiet as he walked as if all the nights' creatures knew who he was and what he could do. The garden surrounding him was beautifully kept, most likely because of Lily Potter. The luscious assortment of flowers that gleamed in the pale moonlight gave off an assortment of scents.

The unlocked door made no noise as he opened it, a wicked smile graced his lips at their carelessness, and walked inside. Looking around the warm home he saw a fire was blazing in the living room, being the only source of light in the home. Picture frames were hung up around the house, mostly family portraits. There was a bookshelf that lined the wall, books of all colors and shapes filled it and by the look of the heavily creased spines, it seemed like every book had been opened at least once every week for the past year.

This was very different from anything he had ever seen, the feeling of the home brought a sense of warmth and comfort; something that the Dark Lord had only experienced once before, at the birth of his son. He would never admit it, but his son had grown on him, he was unsure if he would call it love, maybe extreme pride and joy. Lycoris was a mischievous little boy for being only a year old, he took after his father like that. He was a daddy's boy and loved whenever he was the center of attention. The Dark Lord knew that he was unable to love, but he could be proud and joyful whenever he thought of his son.

The Dark Lord slipped through the house, his black robes billowing, finally finding the child's nursery at the end of a long hall. His jet-black hair and dark eyes blended into the darkness around him, his pale complexion being the only thing visible in the quiet hallway. The Dark Lord seemed a couple years older than his former Hogwarts self, which made him dashingly handsome.

He slipped into the room, his eyes immediately focusing on the sleeping child. He walked to the white crib where the boy lay, stopping by its edge and looked down at the boy. The boy's wild hair was as dark as the nights' sky outside, his small face was thin and slightly angular and the Dark Lord knew that behind those closed lids were piercing green eyes. He reached down, and, with a gentleness only a few have ever seen, he picked up the one-year-old, tucking him safely in his arms like he had done so many times with his own son. With a flick of his wrist, he nonverbally cast a spell to summon a bunny away from the small pile of stuffed animals in the corner and to the crib.

The bunny hung in midair and as he yet again waved his hand it started to twist and transfigure it into something new until there was no longer a bunny in front of him but an exact replica of the boy sleeping peacefully in his arms. Taking his wand out and removing the silencing charm off himself the Dark Lord proceeded to put a spell on Harry to make sure he didn't hear anything and would stay asleep. He was so used to casting the spell on his son that it took almost no thought at all.

"AVADA KEDAVA!" The Dark Lord's voice echoed through the still night air as he pointed his wand at the bunny and Lily Potter woke up with a start at the noise. The dark words left his mouth with ease as he was so used to casting the spell. It barely even took energy to produce it.

The bunny lay in the crib, a haze of green smoke surrounding it, clearly looking like the boy, dead.

The Dark Lord's silken laugh filled the house and all who lived in Godric's Hollow that night woke at the sound of it, children's frightened cries carrying on long after the crack of his apparition sounded. The last of his cloak disappearing just as he heard Lily Potter's frantic scream and the sound of her feet running on a mission to find her child. He cast the Dark Mark over the house, smiling at what James Potter would be coming home to, and apparated to Slytherin Manor leaving the mother and father childless.

Everything had gone just as planned, he was holding Harry Potter, the one prophesized to be his downfall, in his arms taking him to his new home, to his new life. Before he had left the manor earlier to retrieve his new son, he put false memories into Bellatrix's mind. He wanted her to think that Harry was her son so she would raise him alongside Lycoris without question. Bellatrix was always so cruel to people that she deemed unworthy. He would not allow her to screw up his plans.

Lycoris was to be Harry's twin, they would form a connection between them and trust each other. The Dark Lord had already implanted into Lycoris's brain to never betray the Dark Lord, and as the two boys grew older Lycoris would stay with that idea and Harry would most likely follow his twin. The Dark Lord had planned to make the two boys the future rulers of his kingdom, and he had to be sure that they would never betray each other. They must have a deep connection that would make them even more powerful.

Harry would be renamed to Braxton Gaunt so that nobody could piece two and two together. The only people who knew about Lycoris or that Bellatrix had a pregnancy was Bellatrix and the Dark Lord himself. He planned on telling his death eaters when the boys were approaching their teens and powerful enough to defend themselves if anyone tried to challenge them. Only the inner circle would know about the boys existence.

The Dark Lord apparated into his son's bedroom, the dark stone walls surrounding him. On both sides of the room were cribs. The left side had a black crib with green bedsheets and engraved on the wall above it was his older son's name, Lycoris Marvolo Gaunt. Inside the crib was the youngling asleep.

On the other side of the room was the same design except for that name Braxton Morfin Gaunt, stood out fiercely against the stone. The Dark Lord hated the muggle side of his ancestry and he preferred to not be reminded of his mother's foolish decisions.

He would not let any child of his have the muggle surname of Riddle.

The Dark Lord set the sleeping bundle into his new crib. Braxton snuggled up in the green blankets and continued to sleep further into the land of dreams. He removed the silencing charm so if the dark-haired infant were to cry, someone would hear and attend to his needs.

The Dark Lord then took out his wand and cut the palm of his hand so fresh blood would emerge. The blood freely flowed out of the open wound and he focused on the words he would utter next, this was a crucial incantation, the words of a dark and ancient ritual that would forever bind the two infants to each other and to him.

He approached his first born and opened the child's mouth. Tom still muttering the incantation, smiled when the room started glowing softly. The Dark Lord relaxed his palm to allow three drops of his blood drop into the child's mouth.

Tom went to the other crib and did the same thing with the other boy. The small infant's features began to slowly morph to resemble those of Lycoris and of the Dark Lord, almost as though he were clay being molded into something new. The small boy's features matched the other boys perfectly, the only difference in the boys were their eyes. Lycoris's eyes were a jet-black, identical to the Dark Lord's, but Braxton's were the same rich emerald green of his true mother's eyes, Lily Potter. The Dark Lord felt the power surrounding Braxton, felt that some of Lily's magic was still there, but he couldn't tell why. Little did the Dark Lord know that Lily's magic was still there, protecting the child.

Harry Potter was no more, the boy in the crib was now Braxton Morfin Gaunt, son of Tom Marvolo Riddle and Bellatrix Lestrange.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

The dark laughs of the twin boys filled the small dimly lit room. They were standing in the middle of a large circle of people, all of which wore white masks with swirling black patterns engraved into them, concealing their slightly fearful and awed expressions. They all watched in silence, standing tall and faithful, as the hooded teenagers both used their powerful dark magic to Crucio a guilty man. Nobody could see their faces for they also wore masks, though theirs were darker. At such a young age the boys struck fear into the watching Death Eaters.

This was the first time they would be making their presence known to the Outer Circle Death Eaters. The Dark Princes' were the name the Inner Circle of Death Eaters called them out of fear and respect. While the Outer Circle of Death Eaters had just learned of these boys, the Inner Circle had known them for years, they knew what they were capable of and knew to never cross them. Bellatrix, Severus, Rodolphus, and Rabastan all stood still as the boys cast spell after spell, being the main tutors for the twins they were why they knew all that they did. Bellatrix was especially the reason for their dark nature, she was kind to her children, but when she trained them her dark side flared and was out of control. It was as if she was a new person when she trained her sons.

"You should think twice before opening that revolting little mouth of yours Goyle!" Lycoris growled, an evil glint gleamed in his eye as Braxton held the Crucio curse onto Damien Goyle, father of Gregory Goyle. During the reports of the evening, Goyle had let slip that his son had informed everyone in the Slytherin house that the Death Eaters were getting steadily weaker. The Dark Lord was in outrage that a little boy would speak out against the death eaters, his own kind.

Since this was the first meeting where the twins would be present with all the Death Eaters, the Dark Lord allowed the twins to deal with Goyle's punishment. Both twins wore long black cloaks made from the material of Dementor robes. The robes were virtually unheard of, no one besides those closest to the boys knew what they were truly made of, the others though they were merely black robes bewitched to protect the boys, but they were really something much more dark and powerful. It signified how much power the twins held, the darkness surrounding both of them in waves. The death the cloaks held would kill a mere human by a simple touch, but the twins had learned control of the cloaks and with them, it made their powers stronger. It also protected them. During an attack, they couldn't get wounded wherever the cloak covered.

When the twins worked together their powers were always stronger. They even gained powers when they were near each other. They had special abilities of their own that made them a powerful threat, but when they combined them together, with their whole lives of practicing, they were almost invincible. They had never lost to anyone when they worked together, they had even mastered combining their spells together to make a deadlier hit.

"You better learn to control your pea-brained brat or we might have to go after him and do it ourselves!" Braxton threatened harshly as he continued his powerful Crucio onto Gregory Goyle. Goyle was having a seizure under his Crucio. A bunch of his muscles had torn and many of his bones had broken, just for being under Braxton's Crucio for a minute. The Dark Lord thought that Braxton had the most powerful Crucio he had ever seen, even exceeding his own, but the Dark Lord would never admit that out loud.

They both still had a lot to learn. They'd only been together for only 13 years even though both boys were 14 years old. The truth is that Braxton Gaunt wasn't born Braxton Gaunt. His birth name was Harry Potter, son of currently living James and Lily Potter. The twins had known since they had turned 11 and at the time it had caused quite an upheaval. Braxton questioned everything he had been taught, but the Dark Lord had showed him time and time again why he should continue fighting on the Dark Side. Once Braxton finally accepted the fact, he knew the past was behind them and he had made it very clear that he would never go back to the Potters, he didn't want to leave his family's side. His true alliance was with them, not his birth family.

"Let's finish him off brother," Lycoris muttered darkly as he then added his own Crucio onto Gregory Goyle. With the power of their spells being so strong, Goyle lay limp, seconds away from death. At the last possible second, they stopped the deadly curse. They had been taught in the art of torture, knowing when to lift a curse if it became too much for the body to handle or when to make it stronger.

Braxton shot a strong revival charm at Goyle, who immediately woke up, turned his head, and promptly coughed up blood all over the smooth black stone of the floor. He looked over to the masked twins with bleary eyes, his brain barely holding on the conciseness. But it seemed that he still had some sense because in movement clearly showing his pain he pulled himself into a half kneeling half bowing position on the floor.

"Thank you, my lords. I'm sorry for my mistake, thank you for sparing my life." Goyle coughed out, his throat raw from all his screaming and his breaths coming out in short pained gasps that showed he had more than one broken rib. All Goyle wanted to do was get away, to flee and never look back, but he knew that he would stay, for he knew that the Dark Side would win. The Light Side would never be prepared for the terror the twins would do if the Dark Lord sent them on a raid.

"Get up and leave, you are dismissed." The Dark Lord said in his silken voice, his anger and disgust for the wizard in front of him clear in his voice.

"Thank you, My Lord." Goyle said and he struggled to get up only to fall again with a groan of pain he was unable to suppress.

"Someone get him out of my sight. The rest of you are dismissed, keep in mind what happened today if your mind ever strays from the Dark path." The Dark Lord announced in a low demanding tone, while the twins stayed silent. The Death Eaters all quickly vanished, one rushing forward and latching onto Goyle before following suit, everyone except for Bella. She ran up quickly to the twins and pulled them in for a fierce hug once everyone was gone.

"Now that's what I call a torturing," Bella praised ruffling their dark hair in a proud gesture and the twins laughed lightheartedly, their moods completely changing. The boys removed their masks and hoods, revealing their identical faces. There was nothing different between them except for their eyes. Both boy's eyes had the same piercing sharpness, a glint that never seemed to fade, one that promised mischief to their family and pain to the guilty. The only difference between them and the only way anyone could tell them apart was their eyes. Because while Lycoris's eyes were the same deep brown of his father's, Braxton's were the rich emerald green of his mother's, his true mother.

"Thank you, mother," Braxton said almost sheepishly, his cheeks turning slightly pink. He always flushed when he got praised for his work and when he got scolded for not performing well enough it would only motivate him to do better, to work harder.

The Dark Lord came up behind the boys placing both of his hands on each of the twins' shoulders, causing them to look up at him, "I must agree with your mother, boys. That was executed very well, excellent for sparking fear into the Death Eaters. Now it's getting late, I expect both of you up in your room asleep in an hour." The Dark Lord said in his soft silken voice that never seemed to change, even when he talked to the boys. The only difference was his gentle tone that spoke of care, not malice. He wouldn't admit it openly, but he'd come to care for his sons. He felt pride at their accomplishments, joy at their happiness and disappointment at their disobedience. They were becoming powerful dark wizards, ones that he knew he could soon trust to run Death Eater raids and plan meetings.

"Yes, father." The two replied in synch, their voices so very similar, yet so different.

 _'Do you want to grab something from the kitchen first?'_ Lycoris transmitted to Braxton's mind.

Ever since the mind linking ritual done on them when they were one, they could communicate telepathically. They rarely spoke to each other verbally in front of their family, they just had to send a message and the other twin would receive it, it was very usefully when they didn't want their mother or father hearing what they wanted to say. They'd even tested it long distance. They were pretty sure that they could speak to each other no matter where they were.

 _'Sure, but let's get mother and father off our trail first. You go and grab some food, I'll apparate to our room.'_ Braxton replied instantly. Braxton looked over to his brother and Lycoris grinned, signaling he understood.

"Goodnight mother," Both boys said and pushed up on their toes so that they could kiss their mother's cheek, each taking a side.

"Goodnight Lycoris, Goodnight Braxton. Do listen to your father and go to bed, I don't want to be told anything from the House Elves about you two sneaking around again, do you hear?" Bellatrix replied with a stern look at both of her mischievous sons, both of who were wearing matching innocent grins. She was extremely over protective over her sons, but that's how she showed that she loved them. When they'd been caught sneaking out of the manor to cause trouble in a muggle town nearby she'd been furious. And although their father was proud to see them wanting to cause trouble, leaving the manor without permission was unacceptable so he'd put them on house arrest for a month, which was hell for each twin.

"We will mother," Lycoris said though his mother saw that glint in his eye and she made a mental note to have a house elf check on them in a little to make sure that they really were in their room sleeping. They both apparated their separate ways. Braxton arrived in their huge bedroom, while Lycoris went to see how many snacks he could score from the kitchen.

They had been inseparable since they first met so they had been allowed them to share a room. The twins were close to each other, never doing something without the other by his side and both had thrown a royal tantrum at five years old when they were told they were too old to be sleeping in the same room. In the end, both parents had relented and the boys had stayed together.

As Braxton flopped over onto his full-sized bed he was once again glad that they had put up such a fight. He didn't know what he would do without his twin at night, just Lycoris being away to get their snacks was unpleasant enough.

He gave a sigh and closed his eyes for a moment. He was happy, so very happy. He was a Gaunt, the son of the Dark Lord and every day that went by he proved his worth over and over, he loved that he could be one of the few people to make his father smile, loved the people around him that helped him be better and do better, loved that he was excepted here with open arms even though he truly wasn't a Gaunt.

 _Only by blood_ , He reminded himself for the millionth time since he'd learned of his true parents, and it was true, he was a Gaunt by everything except his blood, and even then, he knew that he had his father's blood running through his veins. Yes, he may not be a complete Gaunt but he proved himself to be and he hoped that was enough.

Braxton's eyes opened as a loud crackling sounded and Lycoris entered the room.

"Alright so, I got us some popcorn, chocolate frogs, and every flavor jelly beans. I wanted some cauldron cakes as well but the house elves wouldn't give them to me, said it was too late for us to be eating so much sugar. I hate it went they boss me around, bloody creatures," Lycoris said muttering the last part darkly as he strode toward his own bed, not looking up at his twin as he read off all the things he's managed to snag and therefore he didn't see the troubled look on Braxton's face. Braxton quickly schooled his features into one that displayed relaxed amusement.

Braxton opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the sharp tapping at the window. Immediately Arstrive, their snake, raised up from his place curled up in the darkest corner of the room and hissed.

" _Calm yourself Arstrive_." Lycoris hissed in parseltongue as he dumped the food onto his bed. He headed over to the window and unlocked the hatch. The owl perched on the sill of their third story bedroom window and like always, once the bird felt the dark magic of the wizards it only stayed long enough to deliver the two envelopes tied to its leg. The second Lycoris untied her leg the bird quickly flew away. Lycoris laughed at the terror the bird felt for just being near them while Braxton frowned slightly. He loved animals and he didn't like the terror birds or any other creature felt around him. He always felt slightly upset that the owls never stayed to accept treats or rest. He didn't like it when creatures fled in terror at the mere sense of his power. Didn't they know he would never hurt them?

"Who's it from?" Braxton asked curiously from his bed, hiding his feeling easily. He really didn't want his brother to tease him about his soft spot for animals.

"Draco and Lauren," Lycoris replied and Braxton couldn't help but grin.

They had been writing to their best friends, Draco Malfoy and Lauren Snape, since they first learn how to use a quill. Since Lucius Malfoy knew about the twin's existence before they even turned three, the Dark Lord had allowed Draco to meet them at an earlier age with the hope that they would connect and form alliances, the same went for Severus Snape's daughter. Draco was their best friend while Lauren and Lycoris had a secret relationship. They had been seeing each other for the longest time ever, they knew from the moment they met that they liked each other. They were childhood crushes that grew into something more.

Lycoris broke the seal on the envelope and he pulled out the letter from Draco.

 _"Dear the twins,_

 _Hogwarts is going to be getting interesting. I've heard from Father that Hogwarts is going to be hosting the Triwizard Tournament! That hasn't been played in 202 years! It's so stupid that you must be 17 years old to be allowed to enter the tournament. It's basically only half of the 7th years that can be chosen to be our champion. A Slytherin must be chosen, they would be the only ones powerful and smart enough to survive the tournament. Merlin forbids that a weak Hufflepuff would be chosen for the Hogwarts champion. Could you imagine! I think I would leave and transfer to Durmstrang if that happened. Anyway, how are things going at the manor? I miss both of you, you're the only ones that I can actually have an intelligent conversation with. Crabbe and Goyle are morons that can't add two plus two and Lauren is going girl crazy missing her 'snuggle muffin' so I'm slightly lacking in the people to talk to department._

 _On other news, my trip to Australia was dull but I did get to try that muggle sport, Surfing? I think that's what it was, Father was not pleased when he learned I'd tried anything that had to do with mudbloods but he got over it. Hope your past couple of weeks were more interesting than mine, I wish I could have just stayed with you guys instead of going with Father and Mother. I will never understand why they insist on taking me on business trips. I can't wait to see you guys for training in a couple days. It'll be dreadful when I have to leave for school._

 _Do you guys have any new missions that will take you to Hogwarts? Keep me updated with the stuff going on, I don't want to be kept in the dark if there's going to be a surprise attack on Hogwarts before we even get there, that would not be pleasant. Don't work yourself too hard with all your lessons and let me know if I can do anything for the both of you._

 _Your best friend,_

 _Draco Malfoy."_

Lycoris read the letter to his brother as he flopped ungracefully onto Braxton's bed, grinning as he finished.

"I wish we could have some fun with the Triwizard tournament, send in a dark wizard and make him the Triwizard champion. He could control the tournament and end up unleashing chaos onto the light wizards, show them what the dark side can do. We can also show ourselves, 'The Dark Princes', to the wizarding world." Braxton replied and emphasized 'The Dark Princes'.

"How do you think dad would react to that?" Lycoris asked with a laugh, they played this game often, coming up with scenarios on how they would be revealed to the world. Both boys wanted to make a good long lasting impression of terror and destruction. Something that history books would be writing about. "He doesn't want his powerful sons to be revealed as his sons to everyone this soon."

"It would be the perfect unleashing. Plus, during raids, they'd already see us in masks leading the death eaters." Braxton replied as he tilted his head back and tossed a piece of popcorn into the air only to catch it with ease in his mouth.

"You're the one proposing the idea to Father," Lycoris replied and smirked. "Good luck with that." He turned over onto his stomach to grab some of the chocolate frogs and winced slightly when the letter from Lauren he'd snuck into his pocket poked him sharply in the leg, she'd obviously put something in there for him. Whenever Lauren wrote to them, it was meant for Lycoris and he always got flustered when Lauren would call him 'adorable' names in front of everyone else. Braxton and Lauren got along quite well, they weren't as close as Lauren and Lycoris, but they agreed on a lot of stuff and they both loved to tease Lycoris together.

They could only be their normal selves to each other, Draco, and Lauren. They had to be the cruelest and vicious people whenever in front of the death eaters, sometimes even their parents. When they weren't with family they had to watch how they acted and make sure they didn't reveal anything about their background, only that they were twins. Well anyone could tell that they were twins. They were identical, except for their eyes. Lycoris had dark brown eyes while Braxton had dark green eyes that reminded people of the killing curse. The Death Eaters knew that they were young, their voices could easily show that, and it just scared them more since they were afraid of what the boys would grow up to become.

"Once Father hears the compelling argument I make he'll have to agree," Braxton replied and Lycoris just shook his head as he laughed. They went through the whole night roasting each other and discussing future attack ideas. After a couple of hours, and the sweets had been gone for quite some time, the twins decided to get some sleep. Braxton pulled the covers over himself as Lycoris nonverbally cast the lights off.

Braxton closed his tired eyes, his mind and body shutting down. He was tired both physical and magically from the torturing they had done that evening and soon he was in a dreamless sleep.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Get up twit," Lycoris said, flicking Braxton's ear with his finger. Without opening his eyes Braxton non-verbally cast a spell at Lycoris which flung his twin at the wall, but the cushioning spell that accompanied this kept his brother from getting too hurt.

Lycoris fell to the ground with a loud thump, which resulted in Braxton rolling his eyes.

"Get up twit," Braxton said, imitating Lycoris, which just resulting in Lycoris laughing. Lycoris non-verbally cast a healing spell on himself that instantly mended his soon to come bruises.

It was a powerful spell, one they had both come up with since Potions usually resulted in a long healing time, but with this, it was instant. It just wouldn't work on everything. Just usually shallow cuts and bruises.

The only problem was only a very skilled Charms Master could successfully cast the spell. Luckily the boys were just that.

"Don't make me get Mother." Lycoris threatened with an evil grin. Braxton's eyes shot open as he glared at Lycoris. Mother would curse him into oblivion. She didn't tolerate disobedience.

"You wouldn't dare," Braxton hissed and Lycoris laughed.

"Mot-" Lycoris started to summon her but was instantly cut off by Braxton.

"I'm up, I'm up," Braxton said quickly as he climbed out of bed. He most definitely wasn't a morning person, but neither was Lycoris. Lycoris just liked finding unusual ways of waking Braxton up and teasing him. It was a part of their daily routine really.

Braxton spelled on a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt, matching Lycoris's. The started off each morning with a jog around their manor, which was around 6 miles. They've been doing the same routine for as long as they could remember. They trained every day with Lauren and Draco, but when their friends went home around 4pm the twins trained with their father. Before four o'clock they would have their regular lessons with Severus, Lucius, Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastion.

The twins went downstairs to find Lauren and Draco standing in the living room, waiting for them to start the jog, as always. The instant Lycoris saw Lauren he wrapped her in a hug and kissed her with a gentle sweetness that only the people standing in this room had seen before. Braxton and Draco rolled their eyes and went over to stand by each other.

"You can snog after our run," Draco said and Braxton snickered. Lycoris released from the kiss and pressed their foreheads together.

"I missed you, darling." Braxton heard Lycoris whisper into Lauren's ear, which resulted in Lauren blushing softly.

The Snape and Malfoy family had been on vacation for the past two weeks, resulting in the boys getting immense training from their Father. For the past fourteen days, they've been planning raids, duelling, running death eater meetings, and furthering their powers.

Both boys had been trying to unlock and control their core magic, but it was much harder than it looked. The problem was not with unlocking it, but with controlling the sudden burst. They had been meditating and trying to find their control for a long while now. Their Father didn't seem particularly disappointed with their little progress, just urged them, in a less than gentle manner, for them to try harder and work longer.

"I missed you too, my handsome prince," Lauren whispered back and Braxton had to force himself not to throw up. He didn't understand why this was necessary. Yeah, they were soulmates and all that mushy stuff but that didn't mean they had to snog every single time they saw each other.

"Can we get moving? We'll be late from the run if we don't leave soon and that'll make Sev angry. And we wouldn't want to tell him what made us so late now would we." Braxton threatened with a smirk which resulted in glares from the couple.

"Don't put it above Brax to tell on you two," Draco said and shook his head. The couple released from each other's arms reluctantly but still held hands and they all headed to the door. They took off into a jog as they went around the huge garden that was kept by the House Elves.

Lilies and Roses were the main flower scheme of the backyard, making it seem full of life. Braxton loved lilies. The flower represented Innocence and Purity. Something he wished the world had more of, but that was only a dream, one that he knew could never come true.

After the garden, they took off into the Woods that plagued the back sides of the house. Sometimes they would hold training there. It helped raise their senses so they could feel and hear everything that was going on around them, so nothing took them by surprise. After the two miles in the woods, they headed back.

They rarely spoke on their jog, just listening to the sounds around them and getting the sense of the simple morning delights. The fresh air, the birds that were chirping, the rising sun in their face.

Morning at the manner was a sight to behold.

Soon they exited the forest and ran around the huge garden one last time, finally stopping at the house. The speed they went at was a little faster than normal this time, which put them out of breath, but not quite panting.

With typical pureblood etiquette, they all had perfect posture as they entered the house as if they didn't just run 6 miles. They were trained by Aunt Cissy to always hold themselves to a higher standard than everyone around them.

For they were higher and they had to act like it.

Each one of them spelled themselves clean, which wasn't as effective as a shower but it worked in a time pinch and changed into their normal robes, light grey and black.

The twins were the only ones with color in their daily outfits, Braxton's had a bright green trim on his dementor robes that matched his light eyes while Lycoris had the trim in Royal Blue. Lauren and Draco had silk robes made of the finest material but they were black and black alone.

Draco heaved his heavy book bag over his shoulder watching as the others did the same, "How did you guys do on the Ancient Studies homework that was assigned over the break?" He asked.

The homework was writing a three-foot essay about the whole entire Roman Republic and how it influenced the Wizarding World. Lucius was a very hard grader, but Braxton had gone full out of the essay like he did all his homework so he wasn't too worried.

"It was the worst assignment we got. Everyone else was a little lenient, but that means we'll be doing a lot of things in class." Lauren said and everyone nodded. It wasn't good when they weren't assigned a lot of tasks, it made them cautious of what would be happening in the class.

"Uncle Rodolphus and Uncle Rabastion's assignment was easy and amusing," Draco said with a grin as the twins glared at him. Both he and Lauren had to map at least ten of the stars and constellations they came across in Australia.

Braxton and Lycoris weren't as lucky.

"Easy for you to say." Braxton scoffed, feeling annoyed just thinking about it. "You didn't have to study fifty comets and predictions of all the instances that they would be viewable to earth and then write a four-foot essay on them."

"That took forever to do and we weren't even allowed to compare answers." Lycoris said with immense frustration. They always compared their work to make sure they had everything right, but their Uncles hadn't allowed them to do that with this homework assignment. They had said something about wanting their nephews to become independent.

Like that was going to happen.

"That sucks, but you two are the next Dark Lords. You need to be well trained in everything possible. You'll be leading us in the future" Draco said and Braxton scoffed.

"All of our Death Eaters need to be able to hold the same knowledge as us. We wouldn't have a steady foundation to rule over other wise." Lycoris said as he reached for Lauren's hand, they would be inseparable all day.

"Lycori is right. We should all be able to support our Lords." Lauren said and smiled up at Lycoris, which was returned by a swift kiss.

Braxton rolled his eyes.

"Come on, we better get going. We wouldn't want to be late to Potions." Braxton said and turned on his heel, being followed by Draco and a reluctant Lauren and Lycoris.

Severus taught Potions, which was one of Braxton's favorite classes. He was always partnered with Draco since Lauren and Lycoris were always together. Lauren was a natural, but she really didn't enjoy the subject as much as Transfiguration. Lycoris and Draco understood how to make Potions, but they weren't well skilled in the subject. Braxton had already created 5 of his own Potions. He was on his way to become a Master of Potions. He was planning on applying for his Mastery when the war was over.

They made their way to the Potions lab that was on the bottom floor of Slytherin Manor. Since the Gaunt line was descendants of Slytherin they inherited the Manor and everything of the Slytherin line. Salazar Slytherin was a Potions master, that's where Braxton and the Dark Lord had gotten their skill from. The skill had skipped over Lycoris, it was either that or he didn't try since Braxton already had the subject covered.

They took their seats at their table, their cauldron and ingredients already set up. They were a couple minutes early, if they weren't, Severus would get angry and they didn't want him to get mad the first day back from break. They would be having another 3 weeks of classes until Draco and Lauren would be off to Hogwarts. It was always the roughest time of year for Lycoris, the soulmate bond with Lauren making him depressed when they weren't with each other.

Because of the depression, Lycoris would focus soley on his work and nothing else. Braxton would help him get out of the funk. It would usually take a couple weeks, but Lycoris would eventually snap out of it and turn back into the annoying pest that Braxton loved.

The door banged opened as Severus walked in and the teens quickly quieted down. Severus wore his formal robes made of pure silk. He was always dressed as though he was royalty, even when his day was full of nothing but lessons.

His hair was long, wavy and greasy like always, due to long hours hovering over steaming positions. The potions master didn't seem to change a bit. Even though he had traveled to Australia, he still had a very pale complexion.

"Welcome back from the short break, though I've seen enough of two of you." Severus said with a smile and they laughed softly. Lauren and Draco had told the twins that Severus taught differently at Hogwarts, that he was strict and harsh. Here Severus joked around with them, but when it did get to making Potions he was strict, but that was only so nobody would get hurt. Brewing potions were a complicated subject and the slightest mix-up could lead to something fatal.

"Lauren switch spots with Draco." Severus instructed and they switched places, a little confused but without question. "Today Draco will be partnered with Lycoris and they will be brewing Blood Root Poison. This potion is essential and will be used during raids. If not brewed right, it will cost us. Laruen will be brewing Felix Felicis, also known as liquid luck. It is a very complicated potion, but done right it will help us greatly. Braxton, you will be brewing and completing a Potion, Mopsus Potion. I have the basic outline of the ingredients, but it does not have all the steps. I will need you to finish it and brew a successful version of it. The potion allows the taker to have Seer abilities for several days and to be able to manipulate objects telekinetically. All of you get started." Severus instructed and Braxton nodded, taking in all the information.

Braxton started forming a plan in his mind. He got up from his seat and went to another table with a cauldron and ingredients for the Potion already laid out in front of him. Before starting anything, he put up a barrier between him and everyone else so if his Potion exploded he wouldn't need to worry about anyone getting hit. He snapped his fingers and two more cauldrons showed up. He would be experimenting and he needed 3 different cauldrons to test his calculations in, each cauldron being a different version of the potion.

He started crushing up Chizpurfle Fangs, one for each Cauldron. He snapped his fingers and suddenly each cauldron had a low fire underneath them. He started calculating the ingredients and changed each portion so each potion was slightly different. One of these would end up being the correct one. He had his journal out and jotted down everything he had been doing, making sure his notes were accurate and thorough.

Twenty minutes into making the potions, the 3rd one blew up. Braxton quickly raised his shield and was not hit by the containments, though the liquid was everywhere, dripping off his shield even. He snapped his fingers and the mess was gone, the only thing left with a clean cauldron. He then made notes in his notebook, recording everything and detailing what went wrong and when. Braxton continued on with his two other potions, making slight adjustments here or there.

He added Bulbadox juice to the first one and it instantly started to bubble over in gross grey green blobs. Braxton didn't even really blink at this, just snapped his fingers again to clean up it up and then took note and continued with his last potion. He added the final ingredient and stirred it 2 rotations clockwise. The color was a murky green, perfect for this Potion. Braxton smirked and waved his hand, bottling up the Potion in five vials. He recorded the findings in his notebook and closed it, putting it back in his cloak. He always had his notebook with him during class in his cloak. Braxton looked up and saw the others were working on homework, already finished with their Potions.

Whenever Braxton was brewing a Potion he would focus solely on his Potion, nothing else fazed him. It looked like the others had been done for a while, well into their homework. Braxton took down the ward and grinned. He took the vials and put them on Severus's desk.

"Done," Braxton said proudly, Severus examined the potion, smirking to himself.

"Incredible work Braxton. Your homework is to write a five-inch essay on how you achieved putting the Potion together and all the uses of the Mopsus Potion." Severus said and Braxton nodded going back to his desk. He snapped his fingers and a parchment with a quill appeared in front of him. He never used his wand, not needing it. He channelled his magic through his hands. The Dark Lord had still made Braxton and Lycoris get a wand, but neither really needed it. If anything, they were lost more often than with the boys. The only needed the wands for high power spells and since they were safe in the manor they only needed their wands for their parents training sessions.

Braxton started the homework and breezed right through it. Homework wasn't a challenging task for him, once his mind was flowing he barely had time to transfer all his thoughts to paper. Soon the clock hit nine signalling it was time for breakfast. They left the classroom and journeyed to the dining room where they usually ate their breakfast. Already on the table was sausages, bacon, eggs, and pancakes. All the teenagers grinned and took their seats. They sat down and started to fill their plates with the wonderful food served to them from the house elves.

"Do anything worth-while in Australia?" Braxton asked after he swallowed a piece of bacon. Lauren grinned as if she was recalling a memory.

"We went to visit the Australian Ministry of Magic while we were there and it was bloody brilliant. Dark Magic is allowed there, it isn't deemed dark. Magic is not in categories but is seen as one. The Australian Ministry of Magic is even more marvelous than ours. And get this, mudbloods aren't allowed into Grouseo school of Witchcraft and Wizarding. I wish Hogwarts was like that. Then we wouldn't have to start from the very beginning when we get to school just to slow down for mudbloods." Lauren said and had an evil glint in her eyes when she said mudblood.

"Hogwarts will soon be under our control and no mudbloods won't be allowed to taint our bloodlines and schools. We just have to wait. My Nieces and Nephews will be attending a school with only Purebloods and Half-bloods." Braxton assured her. He was positive Lauren and Lycoris would get married at 17 and shortly after there would little kids running around the manor.

Lycoris would be continuing on the bloodline that their father had given them. Since Lycoris would have kids, Braxton didn't fret about having any offspring, which was most likely unlikely since he doubted he would ever find a mate.

For the rest of breakfast, they discussed the upcoming year at Hogwarts and what would change. Draco told them everything he knew about the Triwizard Tournament that was going to be held at Hogwarts, but he had little information. Even the staff wasn't told much about it. Braxton's plan from the night before was still in his head and he would ask his father about it later, most likely after the raid in a couple days.

Soon Breakfast was over and they hurried up the stairs for Ancient Studies, Runes and Magical Theory taught by Lucius Malfoy. The class was a very interesting one and Lycoris excelled in making Runes. Draco was always trying his hardest in this class to make his dad proud of him. He was always answering questions and studying. Braxton and Lauren were hard workers in the class, but neither were as good as Draco or Lycoris, not that they seemed to care.

They made their way down the hall as they talked about their next class, no doubt Lucius would jump back into the hard stuff as if they hadn't just had a two-week vacation. The walked down another hallway and finally ended up in a classroom, set up by Lucius. They took their seats silently as Lucius was already at his desk, the chalk writing notes on the board behind him.

They all took out a piece of parchment and quickly started to copy down the notes. For the next hour, they were lectured by Lucius about the Greeks and how they fit into the Romans that tied back to us. He also showed them how their civilizations changed and helped form ours. Finally, he finished his lecture, leaving Braxton with five pages of notes. They handed in the essays and Lucius put them on his desk.

He then went on to the magical theory of the lesson. They went over the days of Merlin where all magical creatures lived in harmony, how they learned from each other and developed. The magic from other creatures shaped Wizarding ways and without them, we would still be in the dark about many things. He talked about how magical creatures channeled their magic.

The clock soon hit eleven and they all quickly packed up their stuff. They would be having lunch and then off to Bellatrix for their final lesson of the day. They wouldn't have their Astronomy lesson until tomorrow at ten pm.

They exited the classroom and went outside into the garden. They made their way over to a picnic bench under a tree. Once they sat down food appeared right in front of them, the house elves sending it. This was their usual place to have lunch so the house elves already knew what to do.

They put food on their plates and started digging in. They talked about the class they just had and about the ancient Romans. They always discussed classes after they happened so they would remember everything they had learned, even though the twins had nearly perfect memories.

Lycoris was talking animatedly about something but Braxton's mind journeyed off as he looked off into the woods that covered most of the property. His mind flashed as memories of him and Lycoris running through the woods giggling, emerged.

 _"Ready or not here I come!" Braxton heard Lycoris yell through the forest with a giggle. Braxton had managed to climb up a tree and he sat at the top of the branches, surely Lycoris wouldn't be able to find him here. Braxton snickered softly as he saw Lycoris running through the woods looking for his twin brother._

 _"Brax, I feel your magic! I know you're around here somewhere!" Lycoris said and Braxton's eyes opened wide. He had to remember to mask his magic so it was harder for Lycoris to find him. Braxton took a deep breath and summoned all of his magic into him, hiding it away._

 _It was a great feat for an eight-year-old to do, especially since he was so powerful that he needed to do this._

 _Braxton saw Lycoris frown and Braxton grinned. It worked, Lycoris couldn't feel anymore._

 _"That's not far Brax! How am I supposed to find you?" Lycoris shouted and Braxton muffled a giggle._

 _'Use your eyes? Or the tracking skills that Mama and Papa taught us.' Braxton instantly transmitted to Lycoris and rolled his eyes. Braxton and Lycoris had started to call Bella and the Dark Lord, Mother and Father when they were 7. It was a more formal way to address their parents, they weren't children anymore._

 _Lycoris instantly started scanning the trees as Braxton's heart started to beat faster. He would be caught. Braxton quickly thought of being somewhere else, he thought of a safe place to go too. He closed his eyes and thought with all of his might to be there. He imagined the place and then all of a sudden, he felt himself disappear, getting sucked into a pit. He opened his eyes and found himself in their bedroom._

 _'Lycori! I disappeared! I don't know how I did it, but I vanished and reappeared in our room!' Braxton instantly transmitted to Lycoris. He got up from his bed and looked out his window, that had a perfect view of the backyard. He saw Lycoris running out of the forest._

 _'How did you manage to do that?' Lycoris transmitted back and Braxton just shrugged. He saw Lycoris run into the house and then up the stairs._

 _'I thought as hard as I could, wanting to disappear so you wouldn't win and then all of a sudden I was in the place I wanted to disappear to.' Braxton transmitted back as Lycoris came into their room. Lycoris had a weird grin on his face and Braxton laughed._

 _That was the first time Braxton had apparated._

"What are you thinking of?" Braxton heard Lycoris ask, which drew him out of his thoughts.

Braxton shook his head, "Just remembering,"

A bell was heard from the manor, which meant it was two o'clock and Lycoris didn't have a chance to prod further, for Braxton was already standing. Time for Charms and Transfiguration with Bellatrix. She basically taught Dark Magic during it, so it could also be called a Dark Arts class as well. She taught all types of spells, wavering from what was classified from Light to Dark. She wanted them to be well versed.

They all grabbed their stuff and walked back into the manor. They went up to the third floor where the duelling room was, the place where Bellatrix taught her class. They walked through the hallway in silence, their robes swooshed a little as they walked. They came to a stop at the door, which had a piece of paper stuck to it.

Come in one by one, wear everything you would wear to a raid.

Good Luck My Little Snakes,

Bellatrix

The note ended with her messy signature. They all silently spelled their robes and masks on. Braxton and Lycoris had the same types of masks as all the Death Eaters so they would blend in. Lauren and Draco were the youngest death eaters in history, they had gotten the mark in the beginning of the summer. Since they were in the same training as the twins and they proved themselves, they were deemed worthy of having the mark. All the school aged death eaters had a concealment charm on their marks that would only allow a person with the mark to unmask it. This kept them all safe.

"Who wants to go first?" Lycoris asked and snickered. None of them wanted to go first, Bella's tests were the hardest. They would be attacked right when they entered the door.

"I'll go," Lauren spoke up and each of them nodded. Lycoris took her hand and whispered something in her ear, which resulted in Lauren nodding. Lauren then approached the door and went inside. The room was heavily warded so they couldn't hear what was happening inside. Braxton had his knives safely in his pockets, ready to be used. The tips of the knives had different types of poisons on it, depending on whether Braxton wanted them to have a prolonged or instant death. Braxton was well equipped with combat, the same with Lycoris. Lycoris was better at his reaction time, but Braxton wasn't that far behind. Both he and Lycoris summonded their wands and put them in their wand holsters so with a flick of the wrist they could easily access them.

Braxton ran through spells in his head that he would need. Mother couldn't make it harder on them since they all looked the same and the Twins masked their magic so it wouldn't be obvious on who they were. All of the sudden the door opened a crack, meaning the next person should go in. Lycoris stepped up silently and went into the room, closing the door. Braxton didn't know if he wanted to go next or last. If Draco didn't step up he would go next.

Braxton snapped his fingers and a couple vials of Poison appeared in front of him. This would help a lot. Braxton could imitate liquids and make them do what he wanted. He was still learning to control it, but he could control a lot of it. The vials of poison were as much as he could make do what he wanted, but it was enough to give him a huge upper hand.

Draco went next to the door and stood by it seeming like he wanted to go next, just to get it over with. Braxton paced a little, the movement helping his thoughts flow. He was always a little nervous for tests like this. He wanted to make his mother proud of him and prove his worth. The door opened again and he heard Draco take a deep breath and go into the room.

Braxton ran a hand through his hair as his sorted through his mind. He pulled up his Occlumency shields tightly and just like that his emotions were gone. All that was left was logical thoughts. He stopped pacing and went over to the door ready to enter. He had everything sorted out in what to do and he didn't have any emotions to mess him up. Father always said showing emotions during raids and duels showed weakness.

The door opened and Braxton went inside and closed the door behind him. The room was completely dark and he felt five magical signatures of duel dummies. A curse was immediately shot at him and he pulled up his shields and easily deflected it off of him.

'Confringo!' Braxton yelled inside of his head and cast a circle of fire around the room. The fire brought light and Braxton saw the five dummies clearly. They were circling him, winding around him much like a lion or predator would it's pray.

'Expulso!' Braxton shouted at the dummy in the middle, making it explode. Spells were cast at him as Braxton brought his shields up at full strength. Braxton knelt down and summoned his magic to make the ground shake. All but one of the dummies fell to the floor. Braxton then made the floor explode into fire. The three dummies on the floor instantly burned to ash, the one dummy that was still standing had levitated so he could escape the fire.

The fire on the ground went out as Braxton couldn't hold it for a prolonged period of time. The dummy started to shoot spells at him, which hit his shield at full blast.

"Crucio!" Braxton yelled out, hitting the dummy straight in the chest. The dummy fell to the ground convulsing, which made roaring laughter erupt from Braxton. He couldn't stop it. He felt his magic tingling all around his body. After a minute under the unforgivable curse, the dummy stopped convulsing, not able to move anymore. Braxton released him from the curse and hissed, so much like the snake he was raised to be.

"Avada Kedavra." Braxton spit and the familiar dark green spell left his hand and shot straight at the dummy, killing it.

A door opened from the other side and the lights in the room turned on. Bella rushed out wrapping Braxton in a hug.

"You did amazing my little serpent," Bella said which made Braxton blush. He lowered his Occlumency shields which then made him feel emotions and his body again. His body ached as his magic was strained from everything he just did. He was glad that he didn't have to do hand combat or use the poisons. He had them just in case, but he didn't want to use them. He wanted to save them for when they really came in handy.

"Thank you, Mother," Braxton said and took off his mask since all the other teenager's masks were off. Bella released him from the hug and smiled.

"Draco, Lauren you two are free to go back to your manors," Bella said and the two nodded apparating out of the room.

"Go get some rest. Your Father will be back soon and you will be testing the recruits." Bella said and they both nodded. Draco and Lauren would be inner circle death eaters when they got older and graduated Hogwarts. Lycoris was a little hesitant on Lauren being a Death Eater, not wanting her to be in so much danger but Lauren wouldn't back down and Lycoris had finally agreed with her.

The twins apparated out of the room and into their bedroom. Braxton snapped his fingers and his death eater robe was hanging up in his closet. The vials of poison and his daggers were on his desk, with a spell on them so nobody could touch them but himself. He snapped his fingers again and he was in a black t-shirt and sweatpants.

He climbed into bed and closed his eyes. His body relaxed and he felt how sore he was. His magic was flowing freely, it hurt too contain it for too long. Braxton heard Lycoris lying in bed as well. Braxton soon drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

"Boys." Braxton heard a silky voice call from the door, loud enough to wake them up. Braxton immediately recognized it as his father. Braxton groaned slightly, his body still aching. Braxton blinked his eyes open and he sat up. He looked over and saw Lycoris doing the same thing.

"Get ready to test the recruits. Today three of them will pass on to become death eaters. I'll be in my study working on plans for the raid. It will just be you two with six recruits." The Dark Lord instructed and Braxton's eyebrows raised in wonder. This was the first time the Dark Lord had trusted them with training the recruits without him.

"We will dad," Lycoris said and Braxton turned to look at him, he had a look of determination on his face. "They'll be too fearful to sleep tonight," Braxton said and laughed darkly. The Dark Lord nodded and then walked out of their room, closing the door. Braxton stood up and felt his body try to push him back down. He sat back down on the bed with a groan. Lycoris quickly went over to him and put two fingers on his forehead. Braxton's body immediately felt better. Lycoris was really skilled in healing spells. If they weren't the future Dark Lords, Lycoris would probably become a Healer.

"Thanks," Braxton said softly. He opened his eyes and snapped his fingers, instantly his cloak was on. He also spelled on his daggers, just in case someone acted up and they needed to make an example of them.

"Do you want to focus on hand to hand combat or magic combat?" Lycoris asked him as he too spelled on his cloak.

"I think we should do hand to hand combat. They're so used to magical combat and they wouldn't suspect that all death eaters should know it. It's a very useful skill and it would catch their opponent by surprise." Braxton said and Lycoris nodded. Braxton felt the wards weaken a little so the new recruits could apparate inside. Both boys quickly apparated downstairs. They didn't have their masks on since they weren't trying to blend in. Plus, it was hard to teach like that anyway. Each one of the recruits had made an unbreakable vow to never tell about anything that happened here or else their magic would turn on them and kill them. They didn't except treachery. They put that vow on every new recruit and mostly all the death eaters. Some had slipped through the cracks, but they would be sought out soon and put the vow on.

Both boys went to sit down on their throwns', which was on either side of the Dark Lord's thrown. They waited as the Recruits came in, making a line and bowing their heads.

'They all seem to be young, they're powers are not fully here yet.' Lycoris transmitted to Braxton as he felt each of their signatures.

'Probably because they're under seventeen. We aren't at our full power yet either. Just wait until we become of age.' Braxton transmitted back with a laugh. Braxton recognized one of them as Kyler Snape. Three recruits would be getting their dark marks tonight if they passed the last test that was set up by the Twins. Both boys hoped that Kyler was one of them.

"Each of you pair up," Braxton called out to the 6 recruits. Most likely they were all Hogwarts kids, Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Those houses usually fed into the Dark Lord's army. In a matter of seconds, each of them were paired up.

"Today we will be focusing on hand-to-hand combat. A skill rarely taught in the wizarding world and it will catch your opponent by surprise. Each of you spell up a weapon of your choosing." Lycoris instructed and they all took out their wands. Braxton saw a few daggers appear and a couple swords.

"My brother and I will demonstrate what hand-to-hand combat looks like." Lycoris said and Braxton raised his eye.

'Do you want to have your ass beat?' Braxton transmitted which made Lycoris laugh.

'You wish.' Lycoris scoffed. They both took off their robes and put them on their throwns. They wouldn't be able to cause any damage with their robes on.

Braxton pulled out his poisoned daggers and he had extremely sharp ninja stars in his pocket just in case. Lycoris then summoned two knives.

'No healing charms.' Braxton replied and Lycoris rolled his eyes.

'As you wish little brother.' Lycoris said. The recruits quickly hustled to the back of the room so they would stay out of the way of the Dark Princes.

'Ready?' Braxton transmitted back and Lycoris nodded. Braxton gripped his daggers as Lycoris ran towards him. Lycoris started to strike with his knives at Braxton who quickly deflected them with his own daggers. Their movements were precise and fast, well practiced.

They battled back and forth for a long while, making only superficial cuts and marks, but when they had been going at it for a good amount of time Braxton managed to deliver a deep cut across Lycoris's wrist.

Lycoris hissed in pain as the poison started doing its job. Lycoris knowing he didn't have long, and he used his remaining energy to plunge his left knife deep into Braxton's side. Both boys fell down to their knees as the pain went through them, but they didn't show it other than kneeling. Lycoris's arm started to turn purple and Braxton's shirt was soaked with blood.

'Duel over.' Braxton managed to transmit to Lycoris. Braxton turned his head and coughed up blood. Lycoris quickly went over to his brother and put his working hand on the wound. It started to mend itself. Lycoris waited for the correct stage in healing and then pulled the knife out. With Braxton's pain gone he was able to concentrate. He held his hand over Lycoris's wrist and felt the poison starting to take effect in his brother's bloodstream. He summoned all of the poison from his brother and made it all come out from the open wound. The poison floated in the air with Braxton's control. He then took out a vial and put the poison into it, sealing it up once it was all in there. He then put the vial back in its rightful spot inside of his cloak.

Once Braxton was done he felt dizzy. He had lost a lot of blood. Lycoris snapped his fingers and a blood replenishing potion appeared in his hand. Lycoris handed it to Braxton and he quickly drank it and felt immensely better. Braxton then snapped his fingers and his shirt was clean. They both stood up and put their cloaks back on. They both then spelled their weapons away.

"You will fight with your partner until one of you are unable to continue. The winner will be getting their dark mark today. The others will be severely punished. We do not tolerate failure," Braxton said and he felt the fear from all of the recruits.

"Begin," Lycoris said and the outbreaks happened. It didn't matter if their partners were best friends with each other, they battled to what seemed like the death. Braxton watching like a cat does a mouse as the recruits fought, he felt their determination to win within the group.

'This is a good group,' Braxton transmitted to Lycoris and Lycoris nodded.

'It is, I can't wait to torture the ones that are beaten,' Lycoris transmitted back and Braxton had to hide his grimace.

His brothers love for torture and violence were something that had always troubled Braxton.

'Of course, that's what you look forward to.' Braxton replied evenly. Braxton looked over and saw one of the recruits on the floor with a knife in their chest. They weren't moving which meant the other had won. Lycoris got up and went over to them, easily dodging the duels that were going on. Lycoris knelt down to the unconscious man and healed him, then took the dagger out. He then apparated him to the dungeons to lock them up until they were ready to torture him. Lycoris came back and lead the winner of that duel to the front and instructed him to stand next to their thrones.

This happened twice more and the winners were put in the front and the losers were chained in the dungeons. Lycoris then went back to his thrown and sat down.

"Remove your masks," Braxton instructed wanting to see who the individuals were. They all removed their masks and Braxton nodded. He spotted Kyler Snape in the bunch. Severus would be so proud.

"One at a time step forward and tell us your name and what bloodline you come from," Lycoris instructed wanting to know who the other two were. The one on the far right stepped forward first.

"I am Andrea Dolohov, only child and heir to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Dolohov." He instantly recognized the last name. Antonin Dolohov, her father, was one of the Dark Lord's most faithful followers. The Dark Lord would be pleased. The one in the middle than stepped forward.

"I am Jordan Rookwood, second born and only son to the noblest and Ancient House of Rookwood." Augustus Rookwood was one of the Dark Lords first followers that joined his cause. His father would be extremely pleased he was excepted.

Finally, Kyler stepped forward.

"I am Kyler Snape-Prince, first born and heir to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Prince," Kyler said and Braxton raised his eyebrow. Had Kyler taken it upon himself to claim himself as heir of the Prince house? He knew that Severus's mother was Eileen Prince so Kyler was her grandson.

Very interesting.

"Kneel down, the Dark Lord will be here soon to bestow the dark mark upon each of you," Braxton instructed and each of them immediately kneeled. Braxton reached his magic out to the Dark Lord and the Dark Lord felt the call. The Dark Lord then apparated into the room.

Immediately it was like the room had been doused in icy water. All the recruits froze, not daring to turn their heads to look, all of them knowing that He was now in the room.

"Each of you will be advancing to the Outer Circle of Death eaters. Things will just get harder from here, but it will be worth it," The Dark Lord said silkily and walked in front of them. He then went to the first one in the row.

"Rise Andrea Dolohov." The Dark Lord instructed and she steadily rose, keeping her eyes down.

"Roll up your left sleeve." The Dark Lord instructed and she quickly complied. He took out his wand and put it on her arm. The Dark Lord muttered an incantation and the girl held in a choked scream. It was immensely painful to get the mark and the pain of it almost brought her to her knees, but she locked her legs and forced herself to hold out.

A snake started to crawl into her skin in what looked like to be a muggle tattoo. A skull formed and the snake wrapped around it finally settling into place. The girl was extremely pale and looked about to faint. The Dark Lord removed his wand and let her arm fall down. The Dark mark was glowing a bright sickly green. The Dark Lord then muttered a concealment charm on her arm so the mark was covered, but it was still there. She could take off the charm whenever she wanted and could put it back on.

"Lycoris escort her home." The Dark Lord said and Lycoris quickly got up and went over to the new Death Eater.

"Welcome to the winning side," Lycoris said softly and grinned. He then put his hand on her shoulder and apparated away, knowing where the Dolohov manner was. Lycoris was back in 30 seconds and then took his place next to his Father once again.

The Dark Lord then did the same thing to Jordan Rookwood and then finally Kyler Snape. Braxton had escorted Jordan home and Lycoris would be then escorting Kyler home.

"Severus will be proud of you." The Dark Lord said and Kyler bowed low at his attention.

"Thank you, my lord." Kyler replied, softly. Lycoris then apparated away with Kyler.

"We have the defeated ones in the dungeon, Father. Do you want to join us in showing them what happens to failures," Lycoris said with an evil glint. The Dark Lord gazed at his son evenly, before shaking his head.

"I trust that you boys will cause them to never lose again. As for me, I'm heading off to bed." The Dark Lord said and Braxton nodded.

"Goodnight father," Braxton said.

"Goodnight son." The Dark Lord said and then apparated to his room.

Braxton laid down on his soft bed hours later, his mind and body shutting down. He had just delivered Crucio's to each of the losing recruits and it had drained him. Emotionally and physically. He could still hear their screams, they haunted him, like they always did.

He shook his head a bit to clear it, no use thinking about that now.

But think he did and it was a long while before he feel under the waves of rest, no matter how tired his body was. However, the one thing Braxton had forgotten about was that when he was this tired and troubled his dreams were no escape, always plaguing him with glimpses of the future.

Braxton was a Seer. He had visions of fate in his dreams. But only when he was resting. Never had he ever had a vision when awake and aware, they always came to him in shape clear dreams, when his body was relaxed and his shields were down. He rarely had dreams but when he did they were always visions and never had they not came true.

 _Braxton ran down a long path. On either side of him were hedges, large, dark, and threatening. They loomed over him like a promise of pain and loneliness. There was cheering from all sides, the faint roar of an excited crowd as he saw flashes of light. He sensed all danger around him, a dark feeling that he knew all too well. He didn't know where he was, all he knew was that his heart was pounding, his hand held his wand in a vice grip, and his feet pounded the earth, carrying him toward the finish._

 _This was his first vision that was about himself and he wasn't sure he liked it._

 _"HELP!" A girl's scream pierced the air. There were others in here with him. Just then he turned a corner and he realized that this was a maze, it was a maze and he had to find the center. He ignored the girl's continued screams and kept on running. He had to get towards the center, he didn't know why or how he knew this, all he knew was that it was important. It was like he knew where he was supposed to go. He crossed another path and found a Blast-Ended Screwt in his way._

 _"Avada Kedavra!" Braxton yelled without changing his running pace. The beast fell to the ground, dead. Gasps were heard through the audience and Braxton wondered where he was. He must be around light wizard because the simple spell he'd performed would only cause gasps from them, not from Dark Wizards. He shook his head all that mattered right now was making it to the center. After a couple, more twists and turns he arrived at the middle. This maze was quite simple for him to complete, maybe even too simple. Braxton shook the thoughts out of his head as he kept on running. Keep the eye on the price. Everything would be over in a few minutes. He imagined his mother's face emerging from the port key. He hadn't seen his mother in 10 months and he was missing her so much. He didn't know he could last so long without seeing or being around his mother and he was positive that she felt the same way._

 _Braxton stopped when he finally saw it. It was a large expense of grassy clearing and sitting in the middle, on a large pedestal was the Goblet of Fire. As he dashed towards it, he saw the dark swirling smoke in its middle. It felt so much like his father's magic, it filled him with energy and strength. He could feel all the raw darkness withheld in the Goblet. It was so familiar that he instantly reached out to grab it. The crack that echoed around him almost deafened him, he knew that sound, that was the sound of wards forcible being broken. Suddenly, the Goblet turned into a port key. Braxton watched as his twin brother and his mother suddenly appeared in the front lines followed by hundreds of Death Eaters._

 _"Excellent job son," Bellatrix said with a relieved look at the boy she hadn't seen in so long. She wrapped Braxton in a hug and kissed the top of his forehead. She then released from the embrace, knowing she had to take off to lead the death eaters. With one last look at Braxton, she left running out of the maze and into the shrieking crowd. Lycoris stayed with Braxton as the mass of Death Eaters went out into the maze, starting in on their killing spree. Once the Death Eaters were gone Lycoris also wrapped Braxton into a huge, pulling his brother close and burrowing his face in his twin's shoulder, breathing the comforting scent that was Braxton._

 _"I've missed you," Lycoris whispered softly as they embraced. Braxton felt a wave of peace wash over him when Lycoris hugged him. He felt that he was whole again. They had been away from each other for what seemed like forever, he had almost forgotten how much he loved being around his twin._

 _"I'm glad this is almost over. Albus Dumbledore will be in our hands, dead today." Braxton replied as they released from the hug._

 _"And that's all thanks to you," Lycoris replied with a grin._

 _"Come on let's go kill the Potters and Albus Dumbledore."_

Braxton bolted up from his vision drenched in cold sweat, his frantic eyes taking in the familiar room and the sound of his twin sleeping peacefully in the bed next to his. He sighed, he was safe and at home, he wasn't at Hogwarts playing in the Tournament. But as he lay back down he realized that his visions were never wrong. He would be at Hogwarts, in the Tournament, it was all a matter of when now.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"What do you mean the Dark Lord has two heirs?!" Lily Potter all but shrieked in outrage and confusion, slapping her hand down hard on the surface in front of her, emphasizing her point.

They were in the middle of an Order meeting, all the members sat around a large rectangular table. Papers, books, scrolls, and quills along with ink compartments littered the old and beaten oak surface and the map in the middle of it all had one large circle over near the left corner, clearly marking a destination.

Sturgis Podmore, newest member of the Death Eaters and their current spy, cringed slightly at the way Lily's fierce green eyes bore into his. He wasn't the bravest spy the Order ever had but because he came from a dark family and had been sorted into Slytherin, even if it was just to fit in with his siblings, he was the only good choice left. At the end of the day he was a kind Hufflepuff at heart and a light wizard, and while he was a bit skittish and the idea of fighting terrified him, he wanted to make a different and help make sure Voldemort never took control.

He may scare easily but he wasn't afraid to speak his mind, he would tell you it straight, it was one of his better qualities. So, things could have been worse.

Dumbledore had tried to convince Severus Snape to join the order permanently, instead of just helping with a mission here or there, but he had refused after the birth of his first child, Kyler Severus Snape who was currently head boy, an amazing feat for a Hogwarts student. The two older Snape children, Kyler and Lauren, were at Hogwarts and in the Slytherin house like their father. The youngest would probably follow the older two's example, but time would tell with the youngest, who was only a couple months old.

Because of Severus leaving, it left the Order without a spy, which meant someone else had to step up, someone that was a light wizard born into a dark pureblood family. Sirius could have been an option but since he was already disowned by the Blacks, and even if he wasn't, his antics at school and loudly voiced allegiance to the Light side would have made him useless. All that was left was Sturgis Podmore. They just hoped that he wouldn't cave under all the pressure and reveal all of the Orders secrets.

"There were two of them, both boys, I think. They both sounded masculine so I figured they must be." Podmore rambled. He was always so nervous whenever he had to give reports at meetings. He didn't want to let anyone down and he wanted to show the Order he could be trusted as their spy. "If I had to guess I'd say they seemed to be in their middle to late teens, at least that's how they sounded. They're extremely powerful, it seemed to all but radiate from them, and they knew fully well how to torture someone." Podmore said and shivered slightly. The memory of how the boys had tortured that man was still too fresh in his mind.

The whole Order was freaking out, some in denial of the given information. They had just learned that Voldemort had not one child, but two? This would be a hard trial to overcome. Fighting, even killing, a Death Eater was not above anyone in the Order, they all knew that the war had to end and they would all do anything to protect their loved ones, but fighting a child? Almost everyone in the Order had children and the idea of hurting two kids, no matter what they had done in the past, was not something many of them were alright with.

"They can't be that powerful, right? Their just children, probably the same age as some of our own. Surely if three of us were to duel with them it would be a pretty easy fight," Everyone turned from James and looked to Podmore for an answer.

"They've been raised in the Dark Arts, Potter. If you, Black, and Lupin were to fight them I would not bet on you three. Those boys are trained in the art of torture, they know spells and curses that no one here would ever dream of using on their worst enemy. It seems like the Dark Lord has put a lot of work into educating them. I'm serious Potter, those boys take pleasure in killing, they laughed while they torture a man to the brink of death! He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has turned them into killing puppets, they do all he tells them to, and are glad of it."

The room was silent for a moment, all of them staring at Podmore with varying looks of disbelief. "Surely you are joking." Lily's weak voice broken the pregnant pause. The thought of innocent children doing such unspeakable things, of enjoying them, made her feel sick.

"If only I was," Podmore said with a sigh of defeated sigh as he finally slouched into a chair, with his message given he could now just sit and listen.

The Order spoke for a long time, arguing back and forth about what they were to do about this information. Some thought that the boys needed to be out of the picture, with an heir Voldemort had more power, and with two it was even worse. But others were completely against the idea of killing a child, no made what they'd done or what they would do, they argued that if they did this then how were they any better than the Dark side. If they threw their morals out the window they would be resorting to their measures. This speech quickly shut up those who were for the idea and they hung their heads slightly in shame.

"What if we just kidnap one of the siblings? Why must we kill the boys, if we simply take one of them away from the other? The other boy will try and save his sibling. And all we have to do is wait for the other boy to come to us and then we have both heirs in our grasps." Remus suggested speaking up for the first time in hours.

Fifteen heads turned and looked at him. James, Lily, Molly, Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Mundungus, Minerva, Elphias, Dedalus, Aberforth, Mad-Eye, and Podmore were all looking as though he had tentacles growing out of his body.

"That's-" Began James.

"BRILLANT!" Finished Sirius grinning from ear to ear and James glared at him for interrupting. Sirius wrapped him arms around his husband and laughed light-heartedly, completely reversing the mood in the room to a fun, loving state. Sirius really hated going onto the serious side, that's why their younger children liked him a little better than Remus, but they would never admit that to their papa.

"As I was saying" James continued, shooting Sirius a look that dared him to interrupt again, "That might work, Remus. We already have the coordinates for Riddle Manor and are on the verge of infiltrating it. Aberforth has already said that he would be able to break any wards around the manor." James glanced at Dumbledore's brother and got a confirming nod, "If we start making plans now we might be able to raid Riddle manner by tomorrow morning."

* * *

"Well? Can you guys hear anything?" Ginny Weasley whispered with impatience as all the older children pressed their ears against the door. The Potter's youngest and only daughter, Nicole was upstairs with Destiny Black, the youngest and only daughter of the Lupin-Black line. Both girls were most likely asleep at this hour. The last time one of the older siblings had checked in on them, Destiny, who was three, was cuddled up next to her two-year-old best friend, not minding in the least that she had to share her crib with Nicole as they fell asleep together. Neither were at all interested in finding out what their parents were talking about downstairs. The older ones that wanted to be a part of the action were all pressed against the door that led into the large dining room at Lupin Manor, straining to hear what was being discussed behind the closed and charmed door.

"Maybe if you'd be quite for one minute Ginny, we actually would." Ron Weasley snapped at his sister, pressing his ear more firmly to the wood, scowling when he heard nothing but murmurs.

"Be nice Ron," Christopher Black said softly as he too strained to hear. He was forever sticking up for Ginny, something that always made the younger girl blush. He could tell that the youngest Weasley had a crush on him, but he had told her before that he wasn't interested in girls like that. "Here Gin, you give it a go and see if you can hear anything," Christopher said as he stepped away from the door, allowing Ginny to take his place. Remus and Sirius always called Christopher 'their little gentleman', even when he was younger. He was the model oldest born and people would compare their oldest to Christopher. Christopher was always so modest when he was praised, unlike a lot of people he knew.

"What about you guys? Hear anything?" Christopher asked, directing his question toward the two identical sixteen-year-old boys who were lying flat on their stomachs, ears pressed up to the crack under the door, with a small extendable ear trying it's hardest to make it through the charms blocking them from hearing.

"All we hear-" Fred began.

"-is muffled voices." George finished in normal Weasley twin fashion, with a small sigh. The twins hated that they couldn't come out victorious with new information. They always liked being on top of the game.

"What about-"

"us? Can we-"

"-try and hear?" Jenson finished. Since the Black triplets took after Fred and George so much, they never let anyone know who was who and since they were completely identical, all the other children had just started calling them Jenson, which was the older children closest attempted to combined Jacob, Henry, and Carson together.

The twin that was holding the small extendable ear stood and handed it to the triplet in the middle. They all moved in close and pressed their little ears up against it, their small features scrunching up in concentration as they struggled to hear, and after a few moments, their eyes widened.

"We can hear!" They all exclaimed excitedly, giggling.

"What are they saying?!" All the older children moved away from the door in one fluid move, crowding around them, eager to know what was going on inside.

The triplets were quiet for a moment, listening intently, taking in all the information before telling the group at large in soft eager whispers.

"They're talking about-"

"two teenage boys-"

"heirs to the-"

"-Dark Lord." All of them finishing the last statement unperturbed. They were too young to truly know what that meant. Only being 7 they knew that the Dark Lord was an evil man but that was all the adults had told them, saying they would know more when they were older. The triplets didn't ask questions, they didn't ask why their parents were talking about the bad man, just continued to listen, wanting to give the older children as much information as possible, almost if to prove their worth to the older children.

All the others froze. Unlike the triples, they knew exactly what this meant and fear crashed over all of them. A million questions were running through their minds and each one did not promise a happy answer.

This was not good.

"Heirs? I didn't even realize that Voldemort could produce an offspring." Ron squeaked out, obviously frightened, his already crackly vocal cords betraying him and making his question come out in a very unattractive way.

'Maybe the triplets had heard wrong? Yeah, that's what happened. That must be what happened,' Ron reasoned with himself, trying to keep himself calm.

"Well obviously, he can," The eldest Black said softly, his brows pulled together in a thoughtful expression. Christopher's mind always processed information fast and it made him quick on his feet, always being about to think ahead. No, Christopher was smart and quick thinking, he wasn't in denial, he knew that there was a possibility that Voldemort could have sons, he excepted the fact. What he was pondering was what it meant for their side and what the Order was going to do about it; both of the obvious answers made his chest clench and his stomach do a backflip.

"Why have we just found out about them?" Jonathan Potter asked, frowning, his mind trying to take everything in.

He was the middle child of the Potters, not a lot of people knew about Harry Potter's death because of James and Lily wanting to keep it all privet, so most thought of him as the oldest. Jonathan only heard about his dead brother on Harry's birthday, which they still celebrated.

He would be Ron and Christopher's age right now if he were still alive. Whenever Jonathan thought about his older brother he always closed his eyes for a moment and left himself think about what it would have been like, growing up with a big brother. He would wonder what Harry would have been like; Would he have been funny? Smart? Brave? Caring? A mischief-maker like so many of his cousins and family members?

Jonathan had always wanted an older brother to look up too, to admire and strive to be like. It was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named who took Harry away from them, it was the main reason why Jonathan believed in the light's plan and the light's side, besides the fact that he agreed with what they fought for, he wanted to be fighting against the person that had taken away his chance to get to know his brother, he wanted to be fighting against Harry's killer.

He wanted to be a part of that.

"They obviously wouldn't have been allowed to be seen by anyone," Ginny said matter of factly, forever the outspoken one. "I mean they've probably been trained in the Dark Arts to make sure nobody messes with them when they do come out as the You-Know-Who's heirs." Ginny's explanation was reasonable and all the children received it with nods.

"But what are our parents going to do? I'm sure they can fight a pair of boys." Ryan Black said, matter-of-factly. Being only 11 the second oldest Black had always thought that his fathers were invincible, able to stand up to anything. Most of the children grew up thinking their parents could do anything, only the older ones had a more realistic view on things.

Christopher opened his mouth to responded but was interrupted but the triplets, who had all been standing quietly listening to the ear as the others taken.

"Papa's saying-"

"-Something about-"

"-An attack."

"-They want-"

"-To kidnap-"

"-The boys,"

"Kidnap? Attack? When?" George and Fred asked together, all but plowing the triplets down in their enthusiasm for more information. Everyone knew that the twins had always wanted to be a part of the action, everyone also knew that their mother would never let them come close to the violence, not until she was six feet under the ground.

Only Bill and Charlie were allowed since they were 'older and more mature' and because Mrs. Weasley could do nothing to stop them. They were already older than 17 and had stable careers. Percy didn't want to fight on the front lines, he liked being the brains behind the operation so Mrs. Weasley didn't have to worry about Percy too much.

The triplets were quite for a moment longer, listening intently to the extendable ear, "Tomorrow." The one on the right said slowly, then nodded as if to confirm that the information was correct.

"That's extremely soon! Why haven't we heard about this before now?" Ryan squawked out in surprise and shock, looking wide-eyed at the door that separated them from their plotting parents.

"Ryan, think about it for a moment. Why would they tell us? We can do nothing to help and they wouldn't want it to get out that the Dark Lord has two children. That would cause a panic and uproar, so they aren't going to just casually mention it during dinner." Christopher said stating the obvious and earning a glare from his younger brother.

"What are they going to do with the boys once they have them?" Jonathan asked quickly before Ryan could say anything to Christopher. The last thing they needed was for the two brothers to start fighting, even though that was almost all they did.

"They'll probably question them to see what they know," Ginny explained to the younger Potter. "And they will probably try and sway them to join our side. They've probably only ever heard You-Know-Who's side, they might not know what we truly want to do, that we just want peace."

"What if the boys don't want to listen?" Ron asked, not really understanding all that was happening.

Because his mother was so protective, Ron didn't get out much. His life consisted of boring summers at the Borrow and going to school, where he was constantly around his three best friends, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and Christopher Black. And while this wasn't a bad life, Ron never had anything exciting happen. His mother tried to shelter him from the things happening in the outside world but with all his connection at Hogwarts, Ron knew a lot more than his mother perceived, and he knew that kidnapping You-Know-Who's children was not going to be an easy or safe task.

He was scared, for himself, his family, and his friends. Who knew what would happen if the boys didn't cooperate.

"They would probably go to trial and get sent to Azkaban," Christopher explained to them in his forever quiet and calming voice. Ron nodded but then seemed to think of something and opened his mouth to talk but was cut off by the triplets squeal.

"They're coming!" The triplet in the middle yelled and handed the ear back to the twins before dashing off and up the large staircase after his brothers. The Weasley, Potter and Black bunch ran upstairs, trying not to be caught, Ron blundering twice on the slippery granite in his rush and causing Ginny to giggle loudly at his clumsiness.

"Boys! Ginny! Have you been listening?" Molly Weasley's voice exclaimed, filling the house. All of them stopped, the triplets had managed to escape before Molly got out, and the group could hear their soft laughter from the level above their heads.

"You come down here this instant!" Molly yelled at them and they all mopped downstairs, knowing that they were all in major trouble.

* * *

Braxton woke up with a start, his eyes snapping opening and his mind sharpening almost immediately. A heart-wrenchingly loud boom echoed throughout the manor.

He bolted up and saw that Lycoris had done the same thing. Both startled when a sharp pop sounded throughout the room.

"Masters, you is needing to get to the safe house. We is under attack, you parents is fighting and is wanting you safe until they's knowing what is happening, sirs,"

Neither boy paid the quivering house elf any attention because the second they had heard the word attack they were already jumping out of bed casting around for their robes, throwing them on, grabbing their wands and masks, and rushing out of the room.

The poor house elf squeaked for them to come back but they were already out of earshot, wands at the ready, masks on, and hoods low over their concealed faces.

"I'll cover the outside and you stay inside. Find out who's remaining." Lycoris instructed and Braxton nodded.

They split up at and went into the different directions, one brother flying down a staircase and the other turning sharply down a hall. Braxton heard shouting from downstairs, then a split second later it stopped and he knew that Lycoris must have arrived.

Braxton ran down the hall, his feet pounding the stone and his breathing becoming rougher. He came to a halt when he arrived at the door leading into his father's office. He ducked inside quickly and was not surprised to see that nobody was there. His father had heavy wards protecting his study. He went back out and ran in the opposite direction, down the hall, and toward unknown dangers.

It was a few moments before he sensed a person down in the other direction, a bright pulse of power; he followed it. It seemed like a light wizard, the magic surrounding it was far too calm, even in battle, for it to be a Dark wizard.

Braxton pulled his mask down just a little bit more as he ran, making sure that his face was covered completely, the only thing visible were his emerald green eyes, dark from his emotions.

As Braxton rounded the next corner he came into the large hall just off his father's study. Figures were everywhere and Braxton eyed many Death Eaters among the intruders, they being easy to spot because of the white and black masks covering their faces from view.

Stepping into the hall a figure that was just in front of him shot a spell at a Death Eater and Braxton could do nothing but watch as his father's follower fell heavily to the ground, not dead but close to being so.

Braxton lifted his wand and shot a silent cutting hex at him, brandishing his wand like a sword. The wizard sensed it however and at the last second, deflected it. Braxton raised an unseen eyebrow as the man shot a Stupefy back at him and easily deflected it.

He walked briskly but calmly forward like the other wizard wasn't a threat, squaring up to him like he had been trained to do. He heard the distinctive pop of apparition even in the madness of the hall and in the next second other wizards appeared next to the man.

They were apparating, the manors wards were down, which was not a good thing.

"Conjunctivitis!" The wizard said, his voice was deep and very oddly familiar, even though Braxton was sure he had never heard it before. He didn't let the oddness distract him, merely deflected the curse yet again, sending it soaring away to hit the wall to his right.

At once, four sets of red lights sped towards Braxton, the Aurors in the hall yelling 'Stupefy'. Braxton didn't stop to think, he just turned his mind off and let his muscles do the thinking. He dropped to the ground in a movement so familiar to him from training that it was almost second nature. Rolling to his left he was up again in a second and when he turned around he held the blade that was always hidden on the inside of his sleeve in his left hand.

He was well versed in muggle combat as no wizard would expect a pureblood to have been trained in such a muggle thing.

Braxton's instincts took over, his years of training finally being used for real. In an instant Braxton had plunged the blade into the middle of one of the Aurors chest, moving at such a slick speed that the other Aurors couldn't even move before it was too late. The Auror that was stabbed, dropped to the ground, screaming pitifully, the poison that the blade had been dipped in made the wound start to bubble in a sickening way. If the wound didn't kill him poison would; if he didn't get the antidote in ten minutes he would die.

'Petrificus Totalus!' Braxton said sharply in his head as he flicked his wand at the man on the left of the three remaining Aurors.

The man instantly dropped in front of him.

"Levicorpus!" One of the last Aurors shouted at him, which Braxton deflected with ridiculous ease.

'Exterminiati sunt ventris!' Braxton said in his head and aimed it at the man on the right of the last two Aurors. The man started violently vomiting bugs onto the floor. This spell was something Braxton had made himself and he always wanted to test it out on someone. If he had made it right, the man would start vomiting up blood with the bugs soon and if they didn't figure out how to stop it he would lose too much blood and evenly die.

"Stupefy!" He heard a voice behind him shout. Braxton managed to deflect it with relative ease and turned around to be faced with another four Aurors. Making five men, still conscious and able to fight, that he had to deal with.

They outnumbered him, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. Braxton couldn't help but roll his eyes at the weak spells they were sending his way. Really did they think that a stupefy would do anything to him?

Braxton had learned at a young age that you could never play safe. You had to give it your all or else risk dying. Non-lethal spells were something Braxton was not familiar with.

Braxton took a step back, wanting to have some space between him and the men, only to have his back hit the wall. They had somehow managed to back him up into a corner. This wasn't good. Braxton had always hated it when his mother managed to trap him in a corner during practice, it always made him slightly nervous and more likely to lose control of his magic.

'Sectumsempra!' Braxton shouted in his head and aimed his wand at one of the Aurors. The Auror fell as she started screaming and withering in pain, then she went abruptly quiet.

Braxton could only see the faint outline of them all as it was incredibly dark in the hall when the torches were not lit as brightly as they were supposed to be.

Quickly, before the others could recover from losing another one of their own, Braxton dropped onto one knee, lowering his hand to the floor and closing his eyes briefly before muttering a quick incantation that he knew from heart. A shield rose up around him, bright and strong, protecting him from spells.

* * *

 _(A little while later)_

"Levicorpus!" One of the Auror's shouted at him, sounding furious and beyond frustrated. The spell bouncing off Braxton's damaged shield and off into the air.

This had been going on for fifteen minutes, they would throw spell after spell at him and he would throw them right back, but the constant strain of keeping up his shield and casting spells was starting to wear on his magical core.

His shield was starting to crack as the Aurors continued trying to knock down his shield. Braxton shot a couple more spells at the Aurors, putting one on the ground. They cast spells back and forth, the blazes of color going at lightning speed in both directions. Braxton had already taken care of four of the five from earlier but more just kept coming in small packs of two and while Braxton was powerful, even he had his limit.

Braxton's shield was seconds away from cracking when there were five men remaining and no signs of more arriving. The blasts of the spells they had been firing had caused the hoods of the five men to fly back and the light of the spells allowed one to see their face fully for a few moments.

Braxton had almost puked when he had seen who they were, the surprise almost being too much.

Almost.

Braxton had shaken his head and hardened himself against the emotions boiling up under the surface. The blast of a hex had only brought the reality that this was a battle into sharper focus, so he just clenched his teeth and tried not to think about the fact that James Potter, Sirius Black, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad-Eye-Moody, and Remus Lupin were the ones currently dueling with him.

Braxton had always thought that the universe had it out for him, had always thought that fate must have this vendetta against him from the moment he was born and this just proved his point. Because out of all the people he could be fighting, it had to be his birth father and his friends.

He despised each one of them, his insides thrashed around wildly at the mere sight of them. He couldn't even believe he used to be the heir of the Potter twit. Couldn't believe that he was once the one he called father. Whenever he thought of Potter it always made him so angry he could barely take a breath.

"SORUPTO!" Sirius Black yelled. The spell cracked through the air, going right through one of the tiny cracks in Braxton's shield and finally, his shield fell. His right arm received a deep cut and Braxton cursed himself for being stupid enough to push back his Dementor cloak back away from his arm, whether it made firing off curses easier or not, he shouldn't have been so stupid. The heavy cloak stuck to his skin with blood.

Braxton barely felt the pain of the wound, however, and he looked slowly down at his arm for a moment before grinning in an almost insane way and tilting his head back. His deep laugh echoed throughout the hallway, sounding early like the Dark Lord's.

Lowering his head, his green eyes gleaming with that glint of wickedness, Braxton turned to face Black, who seemed to have taken a step back in fright. In fact, they all had, every one of them was just a little farther away from him and that made Braxton's grin widen.

"Shouldn't have done that Black," Braxton said with a hint of pure corruption in his young voice. Black's handsome features twisted into ones of shock, not really for the fact that the boy knew his name but for how young the boy sounded. He could barely be more than fourteen and even though Sturgis had said as much when Black had seen the boy he had thought that Sturgis must have been wrong, the boy must be older than fourteen but his voice was proof that this was not so.

But there was also something else in his voice, that matched the emerald green eyes that Black saw. It reminded him of a dear friend, but he couldn't put a finger on it.

But this was Sirius Black's mistake, for while he was thinking so deeply about all this the boy had time to shoot a silent spell at him. It hit Black right in the shoulder and he was almost knocked off his feet by the strength of it. The pain that erupted from the impact point was almost unbearable but the adrenaline that was rushing through his system caused Black to barely feel it.

"MOMENTUM EXPUR!" Sirius Black yelled furiously, pointing to the ground with his wand before the others could stop him.

The entire ground suddenly shook as if an earthquake had hit it. The group was certainly not expecting that and they certainly were not expecting the ground underneath Braxton to collapse and for that, Braxton fell down the hole, a terrified scream escaping his mouth without his permission.

He fell down the 4 stories that made up the house. Each story collapsing with him as the curse intended to continue until he ended up on the bottom floor. Braxton couldn't protect himself in time and when his body hit the floor with a sickening crack he knew that many of his bones were crushed. He was left on the bottom floor, buried under rubble. The men apparated downstairs in terror.

They were supposed to bring back the boy alive, not dead.

"Sirius! You could've killed him!" Remus Black, husband to Sirius Black, scolded at him even through his terror that Sirius could be seriously hurt stopped the bit from coming through.

"This was the only way we could make sure we captured him!" Sirius yelled back at his husband, rushing over without thought to help the Aurors lift the rubble.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" They were all shouting as they tried to remove the rubble before it was too late.

' _Lycoris. Help,_ ' Braxton whimpered in his head as he sent the message to his twin, feeling his brother's fear spike instantly from it.

A big piece of rubble was lifted off Braxton and he took in a gasping breath.

It hurt. Merlin, it hurt.

Braxton was completely defenseless, his eyes closed against the pain. And just as he thought that he might pass out from the pain a strong stupefy knocked him out, just as Lycoris called out from him through their link. He was picked up with a spell, one that allowed the men to take him away. Far from his home of thirteen years, and back to where it all began.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 _Images flashed across his mind, everything in one massive tangle. He saw flashes of his beloved mother in Azkaban, his dear Uncle Rabastion being trialed while he went crazy, his brother's dearest girlfriend being criticized and mocked at Hogwarts, and a little boy with hair as black as night and as straight as a pin being tortured. His cries of help pierced through Braxton's skull. Braxton couldn't move, he continued trying to push away the visions that fled through his mind with sickening speed._

 _Until it all came to a halt; a vision then invaded his mind. He was in a large homey dining room, and if he was mistaken, having dinner with all the Order and their children. It seemed to be farther in the future, Christmas perhaps. His eyes turned to the person sitting next to him, the boy held Braxton's hand in his and Braxton was surprised at the peace he felt; it was a peace he'd only ever felt around his twin. His eyes ran over the smooth handsome features of the boy; he was breathtaking and his heart skipped a beat when the boy laughed light heartily as his father said something, and it all but failed when he sent Braxton a wink from the corner of his eye._

 _He had always heard of the feeling when you meet your true love, but he never believed it felt this good. Was this how Lycoris felt when he saw Lauren?_

 _His eyes wandered over to one of the children there, he looked to be a first year. His face was covered mostly with his straight black hair, but he felt something familiar hanging around the child. If his senses were right, he felt his twin brother. Was his twin metamorphized into this little boy? He then recognized the little boy from a previous memory. This was the boy that was getting tortured._

 _He felt the magical signatures around him, all the light and calming magic that hung around the light wizards but there was something darker here. Looking around he scanned the faces one at a time before his piercing green orbs landed on the scarred face of Mad-eye Moody. There was a Dark presence in Mad-eye Moody, Braxton could all but see it. Moody's mismatched eyes suddenly turned to him and immediately Braxton saw through his disguise. This was Barty Crouch Jr, one of his father's highly favored Death Eaters._

 _Three Dark Wizards inside the Order, this was better than he expected. Maybe not all was lost._

Braxton groaned softly as he was starting to wake. His body was on fire, he couldn't feel anything and he was positive that he was magically bound to the bed. He heard hushed voices in the room. His Dementor robes were still on, but the blood was gone and they were spelled clean. His wounds were knitting themselves together, he could feel it, but nobody could get anything down his throat. He felt that his mask was still on and he sighed softly. Braxton and his twin had designed the masks themselves. They had special wards on them so that nobody, besides them or the Dark Lord, could take it off.

"I can't take the mask off." He heard a woman say quietly in the background, which made him smile bitterly, "And that cloak, I don't even want to touch it. It feels so dark that I don't even know how he's wearing it."

"He's the Dark Lord's son Poppy, if there's anyone that can wear something so dark it would be him and his Father." This voice was deep and smooth, it held a hint of frustration and disgust.

"I suppose we shall just have to wait till he wakes," He heard another voice say, this one sounded old and frail. Braxton _knew_ that voice, it belonged to the one person everyone believed might be more powerful than his father.

Dumbledore.

Even the mere mention of the name brought laughter to him. He found it so funny that they put all their trust in the old coot.

Braxton couldn't stay silent as an uncontrollable growl of sorts left his sore throat. He absolutely hated Dumbledore. He was an evil manipulative old man who pulled people's strings to get what he wanted.

Braxton cursed his terrible self-control. He needed to act as though he was still sleeping, it would not be reasonable to start fighting right now. His body needed to rest. He closed his eyes and prayed to the fates that they hadn't heard his lapse in control.

Of course, the fates were not in his favor, for the room fell into a pregnant silence that was broken a moment later by the soft padding of feet on the carpet.

"Sweetheart, if you can hear me, you need to remove the mask if you want to get even close to getting better." The voice that spoke from a place near his head was soft and sweet, as though he was a toddler that she needed to calm and while Braxton took offense to being talked to as a child, her voice was kind and gentle, something he rarely experienced, even when he was a toddler.

Braxton softly shook his head, saying no.

"Please darling, I promise nothing will happen to you. I just need to give you some potions. You can trust me," The lady tried again and Braxton finally became aware of how his body ached and ached.

Merlin, that hurt badly.

He felt the lady take the restraint off his arm, so that, if he so chose, he could take off the mask. Braxton couldn't take the burning feeling in his body, the fire in every limb was torture. How had he not noticed it before? Somehow this was worse than a Crucio; Braxton could withstand a Crucio, but this pain was unbearable.

Closing his eyes, hating what he was doing and knowing that his father would sneer at his weakness, Braxton slowly lifted his arm up; the weight was so much. He could barely move it, the limb felt so much like a brick. When his hand finally rested on his face, he used the last bit of energy he had and lifted the mask off slowly, opening his eyes and finding himself staring into his own eyes, his birth mother's eyes.

* * *

The Dark Lord's thoughts were a jumble, his mind racing as he tried to think about what to do. They'd taken his son, his precious son and was in no doubt hiding under the protection of the Fidelius Charm by now. To say he was mad would be an understatement, but his mood was nowhere near as bad as his eldest son's. Lycoris was cursing left and right, his temper going haywire. The second when he had heard his twin brother ask for help, his voice being so weak, Lycoris bolted away to find him but only managed to see them disappearing with his twin brother.

"I have to go after him," Lycoris said as he ran his fingers through his hair, gripping handfuls of it and pulling at it in his worry and frustration. The Dark Lord kept his face blank as he thought of options.

"That wouldn't be wise my son." The Dark Lord said as he sat on his throne. "After the loss, they obtained and their success in taking Braxton, they have most likely gone into hiding. With or without the use of the Fidelius Charm this time, there would be no way for me to locate him through their wards and even with your connection, if he is not in dire need then you will not be able to find him. And even if he was in dire need I still doubt that you would be able to break through the hiding spell they have up." The Dark Lord did not mention the other reason: going after his son now was not a clever idea; he was not too keen on another battle. The Dark side had four causalities while the Light side had suffered the major loss of sixteen causalities. One of the dark casualties was his Uncle, Rodolphus. Everyone was outraged, especially Bellatrix. Even though Bella had conceived a child with the Dark Lord, she and Rodolphus had still been bound. The opportunity the Dark Lord had presented for her to serve him didn't change the fact that they were married. The Dark Lord didn't tell his son the names of the people who died, not wanting to anger him anymore.

Lycoris gave a defeated sigh as he sat down on the thrown next to his fathers, placing his face into his hands and shaking his head back and forth, "There must be something we can do. You didn't hear him, Father, he sounded so weak and scared, I've _never_ heard him sound like that before. I must get to him, I just must."

"I'm afraid my son, that unless you are a Potter or one of their closest friends, you will not be getting anywhere close to your brother."

Lycoris was silent for a long moment before he gasped and jerked his head up, standing to his feet and looking at his father with eyes holding new meaning and purpose; along with the glint that always seemed to shine no matter what in Lycoris's eye.

"What if I impersonate a light child? Maybe the Black's second eldest son. What's his name, Ryan Black? I heard he's starting Hogwarts this year, which would get me close to the Potter's son and then I could help Braxton break out,"

The Dark Lord opened his mouth to flat out refuse this idea. He had already lost one son, he was not about to lose another but he was cut off by his son before he could utter a word, "Please Father. Please let me do something to help Braxton, I have these powers. Let me use them to help him. You know that we're stronger when we're together and I just... I can't sit here and do nothing when he's out there all alone with those people. I just can't." Lycoris whispered the last part, his voice cracking with emotion. The Dark Lord considered his son's anxious and pleading face and felt his resolve slip. He knew that whenever they got separated they both had high anxiety and went into depression if separated for too long, and that wouldn't do him any good.

He knew what he had to do and after a minute, the Dark Lord finally nodded.

"Follow me." The Dark Lord said softly as he stood up. He held out his hand for Lycoris to take, and as his son's hand took his, the Dark Lord felt an ache in his chest. He was about to give the Light side, his enemies, his most prized possessions. His two sons, his beloved sons would be going and living with them. It was an aching, gnawing feeling that made it hard to breathe and for the first time in a long time, the Dark Lord felt fear. He knew that his boys loved him and their mother, knew that they were happy here but he couldn't help but think they might be happier with them. He feared that he might one day get a letter from his boys, telling him that they had grown to love their new family more than their old one and they weren't going to return. The thought of never seeing his boys again make the Dark Lord want to clutch at the one son he had left and never let go, not just because they were to one day run his kingdom but because he would miss them so terribly.

To not hear them running around in the garden, yelling and laughing, hurt him more than any curse. To not stand watching them talk openly and easily to their friends, hidden away in their rooms, unaware that their father stood by the half-open door watching, a rueful smile in place. To never have them run into his study at any time of day just to tell him something. It was almost unbearable.

But he shook his head, he needed to do this for his sons. He had to. So, signaling that he was about to apparate them to the outskirts of Lupin Manor, the Dark Lord turned on his heel and they disappeared, the Dark Lord holding on to his son's hand more firmly than really needed for a side-along apparition. The Lupin-Blacks would not have put up any defensive hiding charms on their Manor yet, thinking that the Dark Lord couldn't possibly know that they resided in this manor out in the middle of nowhere and not in one of the many they both owned.

The crack of apparition sounded through the countryside and the pair appeared out of thin air, landing on the soft grass with ease. It was a small manor, painted a light brown, almost golden color with flowers all around. It was nicely kept with everything neatly trimmed. Well, all but the trees that littered the large expanse of their property.

They had landed just shy of the trees lining the forest. Both father and son were facing the back yard of the manor. There was a swing set placed just before the large forest that held no dangers and was not dense enough to deem it unsafe for the children to run around in.

It was around noon, and the sun was shining happily outside, the perfect time for children to be playing in the grass. The Dark lord cast an invisibility charm on both him and Lycoris. He then led his son to the backside of the manor.

Laughter ran through the yard as three identical little boys ran around, looking to be around five or six. They had curly honey brown hair and were dressed in black robes that whirled around them as they ran.

"Ready or not here we come!" The boys chanted at the same time as they continued to run deeper into the forest in search of their older brothers. It seemed as if they were playing hide and seek, the perfect opportunity to kidnap the second eldest. The Dark Lord walked a little faster sensing he needed to get to the boy hiding in the woods soon before the children found him in their game, or the adults sensed the dark magic in the air. They walked through the forest, passing tree after tree before the Dark Lord stopped close to a bush full of berries.

Lycoris smiled when he sensed the young wizard hiding deep inside. It was almost too easy.

'Stupefy," Lycoris thought before his father had a chance to do the same and instantly stunned the boy. The Dark lord lifted the boy from behind the bush, the boy had dropped ungracefully to the ground. He had black hair that matched Sirius Black's but the straightness matched Remus Lupin. He was small, but he was also only eleven. He wore a gray t-shirt that matched his wide unblinking eyes. His black gym shorts took up most of his legs, he was incredibly short.

Lycoris stepped toward the boy before kneeling next to him on the dark earth. He squinted his eyes slightly as he studied the curves and dips of his face and body, taking it all in before closing his eyes and morphing into an exact replica of the boy in front of him. Lycoris opened his now stormy gray eyes and reached forward, pressing two of his fingers to the boy's head. Lycoris once again closed his eyes and took a deep breath before muttering a deep incantation. White wisps of copied memories started flowing around the boy's head, slowly swirling upward before they pressed against Lycoris forehead, staying still for a moment before they disappeared into his mind.

He let out his breath in a whoosh. He felt dizzy from all the new memories churning in his brain. It hurt slightly but he would gladly take any pain if it meant he could see his twin again.

Lycoris stood unsteadily to his feet; not used to his small legs and body. He turned his head up to his father, who suddenly seemed to tower over him, it was honestly a bit terrifying.

Lycoris felt his eyes widen slightly as The Dark lord pulled him in for a hug. The twins were barely ever hugged by the Dark Lord and it was a memorable moment when it did happen.

"Take care, my son." The Dark Lord said in an oddly soft voice that betrayed him with his concern and worries; Lycoris couldn't help but smile.

"I will father," Lycoris said and they released from the hug and as the sound of laughing children sounded in the distance. The Dark Lord gave his son one last look, then disappeared in a swirl of his cloak.

* * *

It had been a couple days and Braxton was still trying to recover from the first time he'd woken. The Order was at odds at what to do, they couldn't move him or do anything with him while he still had the cloak wrapped around him and even if he didn't, the magic that swirled around him lazily threatened the others, which made a safe distance between them while he slept. The Order could do nothing but sit and wait for Braxton to open his eyes.

* * *

 _Mother was weeping on a cell floor, she felt as if everything had been taken away from her. Her precious sons and her dead husband. Braxton could feel all the vibes radiating from her, so much death and hopelessness that if was almost too much to take. Braxton sat on the floor next to his mother, his spirit being there, trying to comfort her. He moved to wrap his arms around his mother and she stopped crying only seconds later. It was almost as if she felt her son with her. Braxton just cuddled up next to his mother and Bellatrix just stared straight ahead, her eyes bloodshot and haunted._

 _"It's alright mother, I promise everything will turn out alright," Braxton whispered softly, but Bella didn't reply. He stayed with his mother in spirit, wondering if this was real. Wondering if his mother really was in so much pain. He had never had a dream like this before, maybe it was an out of body experience because of all the pain his body was experiencing right now, no matter how dim and far it seemed right now._

"Kid." _He heard someone say in the far distant. It echoed through the cell. Braxton raised his head, looking at the ceiling._

"Rise and shine buttercup." _Another voice said this one was oddly familiar. The voice made his heart ache and it pulled at him to answer. The pull was unbearable and Braxton couldn't help it when he got up, every ounce of himself needed to answer the voice, but just before he left he leaned and kissed his mother's forehead. Whispering three soft words that he knew she couldn't hear._

 _"I love you,"_

* * *

He clamped his eyes too hard, barely stifling a pained moan. He felt everything all at once. The pain immediately came back to him, almost overwhelmingly him into sleep again but he fought against it this time. He needed to wake up, he needed to know what was happening. He felt a groan slip out as bright light automatically blinded him even though his eyes weren't open yet. After a couple seconds, he forced his eyes to blink, and they hesitantly opened. His body was still immensity sore, but it was not as bad as before. He opened his eyes and it took a little longer than normal for them to adjust. Once he realized he wasn't magically strapped to the bed, he bolted up. His body yelling at him for what he just did.

"Glad to see you finally decided to join the land of the living," Sirius Black said sarcastically, his eyes held no humor. He stood by the door, his arms were crossed and he was leaning against the wall. Braxton didn't respond and keeping his face blank as he let his eyes wander to the others in the room. James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Lily Potter all looked back.

Braxton noticed with mild surprise that Lily Potter looked troubled, her brows creased as she studied him.

"What the bloody hell do you want from me?!" Braxton spit out, his voice extremely dry. His horse throat rebelled at the sudden use and a second later the sour taste of bile filled his mouth. He tried to push it down but that only made it worse and in a moment, he was turning to the side of the bed and throwing up. He couldn't control it and he hated that he was showing weakness.

A woman he hadn't notice quickly came over from her spot in the corner of the room and cleaned up the mess he just made. Braxton immediately apologized, his manners that Aunt Narcissa taught him automatically coming out.

"Don't worry about it, dear. Everything that I've given you must have upturned your stomach. At least all of your bones have healed." The lady said kindly with a smile. Braxton forced himself to scowl, it would not do for them to think him weak. She poured him a glass of water and held it out for him and Braxton nearly shook his head no, but the soreness in his throat made him give in. He took the glass from the lady and stared intently into the cup, trying to smell if there was anything to hint to there being anything other than water in the cup.

"I assure you that it's just water." Braxton glanced up at the lady then back at the cup, tense and unsure as to what to do.

' _Brax. You awake?_ ' A voice said filling his mind. He automatically relaxed, it was Lycoris. He didn't let his face change, but his mind was completely relieved.

' _It's so good to hear from you,_ ' Braxton replied softly, as he tipped the glass back and drank deeply.

' _You've been asleep for 4 days. I'm so glad you're awake. You've given me_ quite _the_ scare _, little brother,_ ' Lycoris said and laughed softly until it suddenly turned intense, ' _Listen, Braxton, I don't have much time but there's something I need to tell you. Let them find out who've you are. Do you understand? It's important, I can't tell you all of it now but I will later. Let them think that_ you're _joining_ their _side, make them think that you don't want to come home, that you want to be a Potter.'_

' _Alright_ ,' Braxton said after a moment, not understanding but knowing that he needed to trust his brother, having no reason not to. He placed the cup back down on the night table and turned to look at the adults, a relaxed and slightly bored expression played on his features as he raised an eyebrow at their staring.

There was a moment of silence before someone spoke, "My boy-" He heard someone say, coming from the door, but he immediately cut them off.

"Don't call me that." Braxton spit back through gritted teeth. Nobody could call him that except his father. Braxton looked up and immediately recognized that it was Dumbledore, standing just behind Sirius.

Great, another fool in the room.

"-I'm glad to see you're awake." Dumbledore continued smoothly, ignoring Braxton's rude statement, an easy smile in place.

"Don't give me that, you old fool. The only reason I was asleep for so long was because of your O _rder,_ " Braxton said, his eyes rolled as he said Order, as though the entire thing was a joke, which it really was. Sirius, James, and Remus all stared and Sirius made a soft noise that could have been a growl at Braxton's statement.

"We had to get you out of there and it didn't seem like you were willing to come of your own accord," Dumbledore said softly before the others to interject, his eyes losing its twinkle just slightly.

"Maybe I was unwilling because I didn't want to go anywhere. Ever think of that before you and your group of maniacs decided to destroy my home?"

"You ungrateful-" Sirius started with a growl but Dumbledore immediately put his hand up to stop him.

"Now Sirius, this boy has gone through quite an ordeal and he doesn't completely understand everything that's going on," Dumbledore said with a hint of sadness in his voice. It made Braxton want to puke again.

"Don't you dare say that I'm inexperienced. I'm not a child that you can push around. Stop acting as though I'm fragile and might break at any moment. And do not lie to me and say that you're glad I'm alright or whatever other bullshit you want to say," Braxton snarled at Dumbledore, his green eyes glowing the way they always did when he got angry.

"That is not what I'm saying at all, please try to calm yourself," Dumbledore said all too quickly, but Braxton just continued to sneer, until Dumbledore moved.

Braxton stared as Dumbledore walked suddenly closer to the bed, far too close for Braxton likely and he almost flinched away from the magic aura that surrounded the man. He had heard the Dumbledore was powerful but he had never really believed that he could possibly be as powerful as they all said, but with him standing so close Braxton could feel the magic radiating from him in gentle, but strong waves.

"My boy," Dumbledore began, ignoring Braxton's growl of sorts at the name, "I will not lie to you. Our only intention in taking you was to hurt Voldemort, since you are one of his sons, taking you would crumble his plans. That was our only motive, right from the beginning, but then we saw you and that all changed."

Braxton made a frustrated noise deep in his throat. Why must Dumbledore always talk in such riddles? Why could he just say it straight?

"Either you tell me what the hell you're on about or leave Dumbledore. Riddles will help nothing here."

"You are right, my boy," Dumbledore said softly, and his piercing blue eyes meet Braxton's and held them for the first time. "Riddles will help nobody, but you see it is a riddle of sorts, that has made us question what to do with you." Braxton shifted under his gaze, wanting to look away but holding it all the same. "I know, my boy, for a fact that Voldemort's eyes are black, as black as any eyes can be, the same for Bellatrix, the woman you call your mother, so it, of course, made me wonder why, if you are indeed the son of the Dark Lord and Bellatrix Lestrange, your eyes are an emerald green, the exact same color as one Lily Potter's eyes."

Braxton swallowed hard and finally broke eye contact with Dumbledore, unable to hold that piercing gaze any longer, even though it gave him away. They knew, or at the very least they had guessed. It wasn't that hard to figure out, one look at Braxton's eyes from anyone close to Lily would tell you all you needed to know.

"What does it matter?" Braxton questioned, his voice deadpan. This was all getting to be too much, "My eyes are green while my families are black, it makes me no less one of them,"

After a moment of silence, Dumbledore spoke again, this time softer and gentler than the last, "I would like to cast a spell, one that would show us your heritage, but I can only do so with your consent."

His tone and expression of pity angered Braxton and the eyes that would never be the black of his brothers sparked fiercely, "You don't get it Dumbledore. I. Don't. Trust. You. And you don't need to cast a spell to find out who my parents are, you already know." Braxton said harshly, speaking the last part without emotion, giving no indication that he was talking about the Potters. Dumbledore nodded his agreement, giving Braxton a calculating gaze.

"I would still like to cast it. What if someone else performs the spell? What about Lily?" Dumbledore asked. Braxton's eyes landed on the only female in the room since the nurse had left. Their eyes meet and Braxton felt an attachment to her, it was weird. It was like they had a connection, but it wasn't the type of connection he had with Lycoris. that was calm and familiar. This was something unknown, something different, something somehow deeper than his bond with Lycoris. Braxton thought about Lily doing the spell. Lycoris had said that they needed to find out that the Potter's were his birth parents. So, though Braxton hated it, he reluctantly nodded his head.

Lily slipped her hand into her robes, the fact that her hands were shaking was not going unnoticed by Braxton and pulled out her wand as Dumbledore backed up to stand with the other men. She stepped forward, walking toward the boy before stopping just at the foot of the bed and raising her wand she aimed it at Braxton.

"Patres Familiae." Lily Potter muttered softly, flicking her wand.

Braxton felt something warm wash over him, it seeped into his skin and he could almost feel it run through his blood. Moments later words were starting to appear right over Braxton's head.

 _Harry James Potter_

 _Son of James Potter and Lily Potter nee~ Evans_

 _Braxton Morfin Gaunt_

 _Son of Tom Riddle and Bellatrix Lestrange nee~ Black_

Everyone's face paled in the room and Braxton closed his eyes against their faces, hearing the sound of Lily's wand clattered to the floor moments later. The silence that followed was deafening, Braxton could hear his own heart beating rapidly. He opened his eyes after a moment and immediately he was staring into a pair so similar to his own, he knew he would never see a difference even if he stared into them for an eternity.

"Harry." Lily whispered the word softly, as though she was testing how it sounded coming from her mouth. She stepped forward and slowly as though in a dream, she walked toward the boy she had never got the chance to know. Lily stopped next to Braxton, her eyes roaming over his face as though she was taking in every detail. But when she moved forward, arms coming toward him as though she was about to pull him to her, Braxton acted. In one movement, he had reached out and grasped her wrists, stopping her from moving any closer to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw James, Sirius, and Remus all draw out their wands, ready to Stun him if moved wrong.

But Braxton had no intention, no pull, to hurt Lily Potter. He looked up into the face of his birth mother, so different from the one he'd grown up with. The pull was still there, the connection that he could not explain and everything in him wanted to move in and hug her, to be wrapped in the arms of the person that should have been hugging him for the fourteen years, but he knew he couldn't.

For them to believe that he was truly joining their side he had to be convincing and to just accept it and act as though he was always on their side would not be convincing. And he needed to make this convincing.

"I'm not Harry," Braxton said deadpan, hating himself for bringing tears into Lily's eyes, "I'm not your son,"

He dropped her wrist as though it disgusted him and she stumbled away, staring at him while she shook her head unbelievingly, she didn't even seem to notice when James wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against his chest, taking her farther away from the one hurting her.

"You're Harry." Lily's voice cracked, and Braxton looked away from the sight of tears running down her pale cheeks and the sound of a sob breaking from her lips, "You're my little boy, my sweet boy." Braxton shook his head and meet her eyes once more, his own defiant, "What have they done to my child?!"

"I'm the son of the Dark Lord. I'm not a Potter. You're all mental," Braxton said harshly, his face showing only what he wanted it to. Aunt Narcissa had said if he wasn't going to be the future Dark Lord he would have made it in an acting career. He could control and manipulate is his features like none other.

"I don't understand," James said, staring at the boy that was supposedly his son. "We buried him. We had a funeral. How is Harry here when we buried him thirteen years ago. Who was in the casket?"

"Obviously not Harry," Dumbledore answered. "The Dark Lord must have taken something or someone that looked just like Harry,"

"I'm not a Potter" Braxton spoke again, this time when he said it was with more force and defiance. "I don't care what the spell says, it's wrong, I don't know how it thinks I'm a Potter but I'm not, I'm the Dark Lord's son, "

"You are a Potter, Harry," Dumbledore said, and Braxton looked over at him, "You were born a Potter but when you were only one, Voldemort took you away and raised you as his own, leaving behind your real parents. You are Harry Potter but somehow you are also Braxton Gaunt, I don't know how but you are,"

"And why would I believe you. How do I know that you didn't just change the spell to make it say that I'm a Potter? How do I know that this isn't just some grand scheme to turn me against my father?"

"Because the proof is right in front of you, Harry and I think you know it."

Braxton stared at Dumbledore, blinking for a moment before he moved. Swinging his legs over the bed he stood to his full height of 5"8. He ignored the pain that pulsed through his body. It took all of his willpower to push the pain away to not look weak. The Dementor robe that they had all been to scare to take off swished around his legs and his eyes flashed.

The men yet again raised their wands, never having put them away, and pointed them at Braxton. But Braxton paid them no heed, he merely stared at Dumbledore. For a long moment no one moved, the men all stood rigid, James's arm was back, putting Lily behind him and out of any potential harm.

"What do you want from me?" Braxton asked raising his arms and letting them fall, "What do you want me to admit? That I knew, that I wanted to leave the mansion and come here, that I wanted to leave the Dark side and join you? If those are the answers you're looking for then you'll be waiting a long time."

Braxton raised his hand and ran it through his hair, a move he knew had him look younger than he was, made him look like he was distressed. He had a plan forming, a plan on how to make them trust him. He just hoped they played along to the way he needed.

"We don't want you to admit anything Harry, but we need you to make a choice." Dumbledore's voice was calm, but his eyes were harder than normal.

"What are my choices?" Braxton asked in a hushed voice.

"You can either continue to support the Dark Side or you can join our side. You can go home with your family and try to adjust to your new life, or..." Dumbledore said giving him the option. The unspoken part being that he would go to Azkaban if he refused.

"Don't people know that I'm the Dark Lord's son? People aren't just going to welcome me with open arms," Braxton asked softly, he had never shown his face to anyone outside of the Death Eaters and the people in this room.

"We will tell the Order that you were under the Imperius curse. To everyone else, you are James and Lily's nephew from America. Your parents were killed in an accident so your Aunt and Uncle took you in. Because of their teaching roles at Hogwarts, they enrolled you in the school for your education. My only request from you is that you are placed into Gryffindor when you are sorted. It will help your image and not raise any suspicion." Dumbledore said and Braxton nodded slowly, taking all in the information.

This was what he had to do, this was what he needed to do.

* * *

Braxton was up in his new room at Potter Manor. They had taken him there after the sun had set, under the cloak of invisibility. Braxton hadn't said anything as they put an ankle band on him that cut off his magic, or when they left a glass of water and a plate of food before leaving and shutting the door behind them. He hadn't even bothered checking to see if the door was locked, he had heard the click of the lock, the mutter of the spell.

Sitting on the large queen-sized bed, Braxton grimaced at the bright red with yellow paint that surrounded him. It was obvious that the Potters thought he would have ended up in Gryffindor.

An entire day had gone by and it was pure agony for him. He missed his twin brother and his family back at Slytherin Manor, but he would never admit it. He laid down on his bright red bed in his small room. It was a quarter of the size of his old room at the manor and felt much less like home.

 _'Brax, you awake?'_ Lycoris transmitted to his mind, which made Braxton grin. The familiar voice filled him with happiness. He would completely die if he didn't have his twin brother to keep him company.

 _'Yep, here at the blood traitor's residence they sleep at 8 pm.'_ Braxton transmitted back with a groan, which just made Lycoris laugh.

 _'Same here.'_ Lycoris replied with a laugh but Braxton's eyes snapped out at the sentence.

 _'What do you mean? Where are you? What have you done?'_ The questions rolled out of his mind and to his brother as he frantically thought them. What the hell had his brother gotten himself into this time?

 _'Calm down Brax, I'm fine. I'm impersonating a little boy named Ryan Black. You know the Blacks, they're close to the Potters and I had to figure out a way to get to you and since I couldn't find you, this is the best I could come up with.'_

Braxton groaned, pulling a pillow over his face. _'Lycoris, you bloody tosser, how'd you ever get father to agree with that one?'_

 _'Oi! I'm not the tosser here and I'll have you know that I'm great at convincing people to do crazy things."_

Braxton just smirked. He'd missed their teasing.

 _'How could I forget?"_

 _'How are the Potters treating you?'_ Lycoris asked back curiously, changing the subject.

They were both protective of each other. If one of them were mistreated the other would fix that.

 _'They're super clingy almost as if they think I'm going to apparate away. They put this ankle band on me that stops me from doing magic or apparating. They put it on right when I got into the room they've given me. Said they were sorry and it was just for safe measures. It can also track me, so that's not good, but I can't take it off without them being suspicious. Other than that not much has happened.'_

 _'Remus and Sirius Black are a snooze-fest. They're super boring and they don't have any time for the older children. Christopher, the oldest son, and I had to watch their only daughter while the fathers chased after the triplets. The only practice I've had with an infant is with Trevor, and that's only because Lauren taught me how to take care of him.'_ Lycoris said and Braxton laughed. Trevor was the youngest of the Snape family at 10 months old. He was a miracle baby. Nobody expects Rowan Snape, nee~ Goshawk, to have another child at her age. The oldest of the Snape family was 17, in his 7th year in Hogwarts as Slytherin Head Boy and Prefect. Kyler had gained a lot of power at Hogwarts with none too little help from his father. Lauren was the middle child of the family and she was 3 years younger than Kyler. Rowan Snape was already 54 when she had Lauren, it was a huge surprise that she was pregnant again with Trevor.

' _Trevor's a cute child and he will make an excellent death eater.'_ Braxton replied. Trevor was quite a powerful child for just being a little under a year old. The twins could already feel the magical signature radiating from him.

 _'You're only saying that because he's taken a liking to you._ ' Lycoris scoffed and Braxton grinned. Trevor always smiled when Braxton held him and he was well behaved whenever Braxton was near him.

 _'Not my fault I'm more charming than you.'_ Braxton replied and he could practically see Lycoris scowling at him.

' _Brax, we're literally the same person. The only difference between us is our eye color.'_ Lycoris said and they laughed. Sometimes to pull pranks on Draco and Lauren, Lycoris would change his eye colors to Braxton's. It was always so funny when they tried to figure out who was who. They had never gotten it right. Not even their parents could figure it out.

 _'True.'_ Braxton replied and they were both left in a comfortable silence. Braxton went over the plan in his head, it all had to work out or else they were toast. Having his twin here with him mentally helped calm him down. He was always so calm and collective on the outside, but inside he had a bunch of insecurities and fears. What if his father decided to just get rid of him? What if the Potters saw through his disguise? What if Dumbledore figured out what they were doing?

Braxton pushed the fears of his mind. His father would never do that and the plan would work out. In his vision the plan had worked, they had infiltrated Hogwarts. And his visions were always right. But as he closed his eyes to sleep a small voice whispered in his mind. Are they?


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Day of the Quidditch World Cup**

 **August 24th, 1994**

Braxton woke up early, the light of the rising sun falling across his face. He didn't have to look at a clock to know it was five in the morning, for this was his routine. The same schedule he'd been following since before he could even remember.

 _It was simple;_

 _5:00 am: Get dressed, go on a morning run, do exercises._

 _6:00 am: Take a shower, prepare for the day, study for upcoming lessons._

 _7:00 am: Go to Potions class first_

 _9:00 am: Have breakfast._

 _10:00 am: Go to classes._

 _12:00 pm: Go have lunch_

 _2:00 pm: Go to classes_

 _4:00 pm; Free time to do whatever he wants with Lycoris / Training sessions with their Father._

 _Go to bed whenever they wanted._

 _Repeat._

He wouldn't mess up this schedule, even if he was stuck at the Potter residence.

Braxton threw the covers back and slid his legs over the edge of the large bed, stretching leisurely and stifling a yawn before padding over to the set of drawers opposite the bed and pulling open the middle one. It was the only full drawer and from it, he pulled newly bought sweatpants and a white t-shirt that were magically fit to accommodate his size. He was on the thinner side, but he did have a lot of muscles that helped even it out.

Grumbling about the stupid ankle band restricting his magic, Braxton pulled the items on manually and, as an afterthought, went over to the desk in the room and grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote a quick note to James and Lily.

 _Out on a morning run around the manor, be back in an hour._

 _~Braxton Gaunt_

Braxton took the parchment and went over to the door, slightly surprised to find it unlocked. He had tried the door last night and found it locked, and knowing that no one was up yet to unlock it, he figured they must have a timer on the door so that it unlocked for him in the morning.

Stepping silently outside he looked up and down the long hall that had to have at least fifteen doors lining its sides and wondered which one was the Potter's. Deciding to try and see how much of his magical sense was restricted Braxton wandered down the hall, struggling to reach out with his power to try and sense where the two adults were.

At last, he found them down the hall in a room that had two large double doors. Or at least he thought he had, the magical cores felt strong enough to be theirs and figuring that whoever the adults were inside the room would most likely know about him and inform Lily and James of his note. Braxton placed it on the ground, making sure it would be visible, before turning to leave.

The manner was large, Braxton discovered as he headed downstairs, not as big as Slytherin Manor was. but it came close in second. The long corridors and passageways were unfamiliar to him and he was sure he would have gotten lost had he not been given a small tour of the place upon his arrival.

Soon he found the door that led outside and he swung it open, breathing in the clean crisp air. The sun was just peeking up over the horizon and it bathed everything in its orange-red light.

He took in the extraordinary view of the gardens, knowing that it must take a lot of work to keep up and wondering if Lily did it all on her own. Winding hedges, tall elegant trees, flowers at every turn, and a path newly smoothed and packed down leading through it all made for a magnificent view.

Deciding that the path was the only place smooth enough for running, he did his stretches like always then took off.

An hour later Braxton had barely broken a sweat as he finished his run, even after running so many laps around the property.

Loving the fresh air and the freedom Braxton decided to go once more through the gardens before he did his extensive exercises then he would determine if he wanted to head back or roam around to get a feel for what he supposed was his new home for the rest of the summer.

He finished his lap and his exercises in a little over half an hour and, slightly out of breath and sweaty, went over to a small playground near the side of the house. He sat down on one of the swings. He shuddered slightly at the memory of him and Lycoris going muggle hunting with their mother, he remembered they had used one of these swings to hang one of the muggles. He had never liked killing just for the sport of it, but his brother liked it so he often did it, something that always made him feel a little hollow inside.

 _'Lycoris you awake?'_ Braxton transmitted to his twin suddenly feeling like if he wasn't distracted his mind would stray and think of things he did not want to think about.

 _'Of course, I am, but I'm bloody well stuck staring up at the ceiling until this ruddy family gets up and I can't very well go on a run since it might be a little conspicuous for this little brat to go on a ten-mile jog at five am.'_ Lycoris snapped back causing Braxton to laugh. He felt better already.

Lycoris was easily annoyed, a trait that Braxton did not share with his family; it was also one of the reasons why Lycoris and Draco got along so well. They both pouted together while Braxton and Lauren would roll their eyes and tease them.

It also didn't help that Lycoris got moodier when he hadn't seen Lauren in a while and, since the last time they had seen her was at their last class which was a little under a week ago, he was well overdue for some moodiness.

 _'Awh is big bruda Lycoris missing his girlfriend?'_ Braxton teased, he could practically see the blush creeping up on his brother's face and the blush was replaced with a deep scowl.

 _'Don't make me laugh twerp.'_ Lycoris responded and Braxton rolled his eyes.

Just like all the other siblings out there they fought, they were not the exception.

 _'Damn. The blood traitors are up, I have to go. Keep me updated and if you need help I'm just one transmission away.'_ Lycoris breathed before their connection cut off.

Braxton sighed and stood up from the swing set. No use prolonging the inevitable, it was time to face the firing squad, so with dragging feet, he went back inside the house.

He was about to head back upstairs to shower and dress properly when a sound stopped him. He was at the base of the large ornate staircase and if he was not mistaken the soft melody he was hearing was coming from the kitchens. Figuring the house elves wouldn't be playing music while they cooked Braxton was sure that someone had to be down there and he was sure that someone was likely Lily.

Braxton would have very much liked to say that he didn't feel a strong urge to head down to the kitchens to see Lily but that, of course, would be a lie, because for some unknown reason the thought of seeing his birth mother again made the heaviness in his chest just a little bit lighter, even though it was sure to lead to nothing but tension.

Before he was even aware that he had made a decision, his feet were already moving and before long he could smell what had to be breakfast cooking and bugger if it didn't smell divine.

He hadn't realized he was so hungry.

Braxton stopped in front of a door, one clearly marked kitchen and stepping forward he pushed the heavy oak inward just a tad, enough so that he could see in, and what he saw surprised him.

It was Lily, sure enough, standing in front of a large stove cooking what smelled like bacon, eggs, and some breakfast pastries, but it wasn't the cooking that made Braxton freeze, it was the fact that Lily was dancing.

Dressed in a flowery summer dress of blue and gently swinging her hips back and forth while her feet moved to and forth to the sound of music magically projected throughout the room, Lily Potter danced and, to Braxton even greater surprise, sang.

Her soft voice floated out over the room, joining in with the music perfectly and making the sweetest sound.

Braxton had only ever heard someone sing once; when he had been permitted to sleep over at the Malfoy's house at a young age. Narcissa, after much pleading form Draco, had agreed to sing a lullaby to them. It had been soft, and slightly off tone since Narcissa was no great singer but Braxton had thought she had a voice like an angel since the only ones had to compare it to was his own and Lycoris.

But Braxton realized that Narcissa Malfoy's voice was only ordinary, common, and though not bad sounding, dull in comparison to Lily's.

Braxton now knew that Lily Potter was the one with the voice of an angel, so sweet and soft, gentle and in all the right ways and Braxton felt glued to the spot as he watched and listened to the redheaded woman sing.

It was a simple song really, and the music was slow and calming and at another time Braxton might have found it boring but now he just stood in awe as Lily sang and sang.

"That was amazing." He couldn't have stopped the words slipping from his mouth if he had tried and Lily, who had just finished her song in a spectacular twirl, shrieked and nearly dropped the plate of bacon she was holding.

"Bloody-" Braxton had the feeling that whatever she was going to say would not have been appropriate for his ears and couldn't help but smirk when she stopped herself short, clamping her mouth shut with a snap, her eyes wide and staring.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Braxton said, automatically apologizing for scaring a lady, and realizing quite late that it was an unexpected move.

He raised an eyebrow when she simply stared at him, acting as though he had three heads. He supposed the last time they had spoken he had brought her to sobbing uncontrollable tears after telling her quite brutally that he was not her son and for some reason, he felt an insane urge to apologize for his words to her when he had first woken.

But he shut that notion out just as fast as it came. He could not go around apologizing for all his actions while being kept in this bloody house, he had a feeling that would take far too long, plus he had nothing to apologize for, he spoke only the truth.

"Umm, would you like some bacon?" It was an awkward question, one that hung in the air and showed Braxton that Lily was just as uncertain how to act around him as he was around her.

Braxton wanted to say no, eating fatty bacon first thing in the morning after all that exercise was not an effective way to start off his day but decided that saying no would only make matters worse so he nodded and sat down at the island while Lily scrambled to get him a plate.

After she placed a plate with an offensive amount of the stuff in front of him and shifted awkwardly for a moment, staring at anything but him, Braxton decided to try and start a conversation.

"I saw the gardens while I was out this morning. They are very beautiful; do you tend to them yourself?"

He immediately knew he had hit the jackpot, for Lily's eyes lit up like fireworks and a small pleased smile pulled at her red lips while a soft pink blush heated her pale cheeks.

"Yes, I do. I designed all the gardens at the manor and I've been tending to them since we first moved in. They are always quite lovely this time of year aren't they." Lily replied and Braxton gave her a small smile of encouragement, urging her to keep speaking.

It was refreshing actually, the way Lily spoke, her eyes suddenly so full of life and her hands gesturing animatedly while she spoke.

Her excitement for such an innocent thing was something Braxton had never encountered before. The only subject Death Eaters got excited over was blood and gore, but here Lily was, talking about her flowers with such passion and happiness you would have thought she was a child talking about her favorite toy, it made Braxton feel at peace, and almost... well almost at home.

They continued talking, branching off into different topics and the awkwardness of earlier was forgotten.

"I need to go take a shower. I'll be back down soon." Braxton said after they had lapsed into silence in favor of Lily's need to watch over the food still cooking.

Lily glanced up at him then, seeming to take in for the first time his sweaty and informal appearance.

"Right... Well when you get back down, James and I would like to introduce you to a few people and talk to you about a few things," Lily said and Braxton nodded.

He wondered who they could possibly want to introduce to him, but he figured it was most likely some order members, so he didn't fret for too long.

After his shower, he changed into a plain white shirt, gray pants and dark blue outer robes they had purchased for him, something much like he thought one might wear at Hogwarts, and then after a moment's hesitation, pulled his Dementor cloak around himself, clasping the white snake fastener around his collar.

He felt safe in the cloak, it was a piece of home, something his father had given to him and his twin as a gift for their tenth birthday, a great and valuable thing he hated to see out of his sight. He always cherished the things his father had given him, for the gifts weren't plentiful, but significant in all their separate ways.

He knew the Potter's feared the cloak, loathed the dark magic of it, but the fabric, so thin and oddly warm was one of Braxton's ground rules of staying here. They could take everything else but not his cloak, not that any of them even wanted to go near the thing.

Knowing that if he walked into the room and immediately assaulted them with the feeling of darkness radiating off the fabric in waves that they would be even warier than they already were. He pulled at the feeling hanging in the air and after a long moment and with great effort managed to mask most of the power coming from the cloak.

They had taken his ability to release magic but had not stopped him from consuming it.

Braxton had made a mental note to talk to Severus about brewing up some type of potion to help hide his powers so that he did not have to do so at all times. It was quite draining on his end since it was hard to consistently be raining in the magic that was supposed to surround him naturally.

Braxton turned and inspected himself in the mirror. His black hair, forever standing up at weird angels was gelled and brushed into submission in the most natural way, looking neat but in the most untidy way possible.

Unlike Draco, the slicked back look was not his style.

Deciding that he looked presentable enough Braxton made his way down to breakfast.

Upon entering the kitchen Braxton realized that Lily was no longer present, instead, he saw a man with unruly raven locks, a proud figure, and strong arms seated at the island, in the same seat Braxton had vacated only this morning, eating a bowl of what looked like oats.

James Potter glanced up when he heard the door open and froze much like Lily had. His handsome face morphed into one of shock like he didn't expect to see Braxton walking around so freely, then to guarded wariness.

Braxton didn't have to use Legilimency to know that James didn't trust him or like his presence in his house.

"Lily'll be back down in a minute, she's just grabbing the kids," James said tightly and Braxton stopped in his tracks.

Did he just say, kids?

"PANCAKE DAY!" A young boy's voice yelled, which completely made Braxton turn around.

What must be one of the children all but flew down the stairs, skipping two at a time, quite an impressive feat considering how short his legs were, and bounced to the ground.

He had black curly hair that matched James's perfectly and he had all of Lily's small delicate features.

The boy appeared close to what he, Braxton, would have looked like if the blood ritual hadn't happened. The only exception was the milky brown eyes that the child had.

Lily descended the stairs with much more grace than her son had and stroked the bright red hair of the toddler in her arms. The girl was leaning her head on Lily's shoulder, looking like she didn't want to be awake.

"Jonathan, inside voice. You know Nicole hates loud noises when she's just woken," Lily scolded him as she came to the bottom of the stairs.

"Sorry, mama," The boy said timidly, obviously not liking getting scolded.

Braxton was silent as he studied this boy. He was wearing bright red robes, probably supporting Gryffindor house, though he couldn't be old enough to be at Hogwarts yet. He was probably going to be attending his first year in the upcoming weeks. Typical of a Potter, supporting the lion den before evening being sorted into it.

"It's alright sweetheart," Lily stepped into the kitchen, stopping as close to Braxton as he thought she dared while holding her toddler in her arms. "You know how we told you that we had someone we wanted you to meet, someone very important?" Lily said taking on her motherly actions. The small boy nodded, eyes flickering between his mother and Braxton.

The way the child looked up at Braxton, with a look of wonder and curiosity, made his skin itch. The boy's stare was too innocent, too sweet and pure, something Braxton so rarely saw that it made him uncomfortable.

But even so, Braxton looked straight back at the child, holding his gaze with a dark one of his own. And then, when the child's mind changed in just the right way, Braxton slipped into the boy's mind. He easily went through the non-existent barriers, so well practiced and careful were his movements that the small Potter didn't even blink at the intrusion.

Immediately he saw memories of the boy laughing and playing with the toddler and his parents. A memory of Jonathan joking around with the same boy from his previous visions, the Black child, entered the boy's mind. Braxton recognized the boy as the child that Lycoris was impersonating and the one that was currently being tortured. Realization filled him as to why Lycoris chose that boy. Lycoris would be close to Jonathan Potter, which would allow Lycoris to see Braxton whenever he wanted since Braxton now lived with Jonathan.

"This is Braxton Potter. He is your cousin from America. His parents were in a fatal accident and he was moved here with us. He will be staying with us and attending Hogwarts." Lily told Jonathan, which brought Braxton out of Jonathan's mind.

"That's so cool! I've never met another Potter! And you're going to be new like me this year! We're going to have so much fun at Hogwarts!" The child yelled out in excitement, all but giggling with his glee.

Jonathan couldn't believe that his parents hadn't told him that Braxton was going to stay with them. Surely, they would have told him, but with a mental shrug Jonathan thought nothing off it. Parents were weird sometimes, questioning their logic just hurt his head.

"This is our son, Jonathan Sirius Potter." Lily introduced for her son, the boy obviously not knowing ant type of manners. Braxton put on a fake smile, one he knew looked genuine. Long hours of lessons with Severus assured him of that.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jonathan." Braxton said and extended a hand for Jonathan to shake. Jonathan chuckled softly and quickly shook his hand. Braxton had to force himself to not roll his eyes at the boy's childishness. As soon as he released from the handshake, he gently slipped his hand underneath his cloak and wiped it on his jeans, the moment going unnoticed by everyone else.

Before anything else could be said a soft "Bubba?" was heard and Braxton turned to see that the small girl still sitting on Lily's hip was the one who had spoken, with she was reaching her hand out for him and her eyes wide and curious.

Braxton's heart melted, he had always had a soft spot for children. Lycoris, Lauren, and Draco always teased him about the fact that he would rather spend time with a child instead of people his own age. The memory and the girls sweet look made a smile form on his face, one which he couldn't help.

"Braxton, not bubba." He replied gently, bringing a frown to Nicole's face. The Potter's looked on in confusion as their only daughter yelled "Bubba!" once again, squirming and trying to escape from Lily grasp with determination.

She reached out her hands to try and grab onto Braxton, even though he was a few feet away. Braxton had this type of reaction towards kids. He always connected with them better than grownups anyway.

Braxton stepped closer, unable to help himself, and looked up at Lily for consent.

There was a weariness in Lily's eyes, and fear as well. Braxton tried to push down the anger and guilt that rose when Braxton realized that she thought he would hurt the girl.

Braxton had done a lot of terrible things but hurt a child was not one of them. Lycoris was there for that.

Nicole kept on kicking at Lily, trying to get away from her. With a soft sigh, she knew that Nicole didn't give up on something she had set her mind too. Lilly nodded slowly, after all both her and James where there she thought, and gently passed Nicole off to Braxton, who took the toddler with ease, his smile widened as she laughed happily, no one noticing the way James tensed as Braxton held the child.

Nicole wrapped her tiny arms around Braxton's neck and leaned her head in the groove of his neck, before tilting her head up wards to press a wet sloppy kiss on his jaw. Braxton already knew that he would be taking her when this was all over. She would become playmates with Trevor and be raised amongst the dark.

"Do you want food little Robin?" Braxton asked softly and Nicole nodded. The nickname suited Nicole as her hair was as dark red as a Robin.

Lily moved forward to the table and a minute later, she had produced a pancake drizzled with maple syrup and cut up into little bit size pieces, a sippy cup full of Pumpkin juice and a bib, all while Braxton got Nicole seated in her high chair.

"Do you want to feed her or..." Lily trailed off as she set the food down, looking uncertain. James was watching Braxton like a hawk, one fist resting in the folds of his robes with his wand in hand, ready for anything to happen. Jonathan sat down with a frown, not knowing why his parents suddenly looked so tense.

"I'd like to feed her if you don't mind, you can have your breakfast while I watch her. I have experience with children," He replied, already fastening the bib in place and moving the cup of juice out of the way of the toddlers moving arms. He sat down next to the highchair and turned to the family sitting around him, keeping one eye on the happily giggling girl next to him as he did so.

"So, Jonathan, tell me a bit about yourself," Braxton said, trying to make some conversation. If he was going to spend a lot of time with this family, he at least needed to get himself acquainted with them. Plus, he didn't think ignoring the boy would win him many points with the family or make the story they had come up with believable.

"Well... I'm really into Quidditch and flying! Have you ever flown? It's so much fun, I'd do it every day if I was allowed!" Jonathan started rambling on all about the game, which Braxton was not really familiar with.

Draco and Lycoris played all the time, but Braxton liked to sit on the sidelines and watch with Lauren. Yes, he knew the basics of the game but he rarely ever played. Even though when he played with them he always managed to beat both Lycoris and Draco, but he never listened to their insisted urges that he was a natural and was wasting his talent by not playing every second he could.

While Jonathan talked he started to feed Nicole and himself with ease, taking bits of his own food in between assisting her.

Whenever at Snape manor, as Kyler was out and Severus and Rowan were always off doing who knows what, it was always just Lauren, Lycoris, Trevor and himself. Lauren and Lycoris would go off into Lauren's room and snog, or whatever they did, Braxton shuddered to think, and he would be stuck on babysitting duty. Which Braxton was fine with because he enjoyed children and Lycoris always owed him favors because of this so it was a win-win situation.

"Hey, Dad, when are we heading over to the Quidditch World Cup?" Braxton heard when he finally tuned back into the conversation. He was in the middle of airplaneing a spoonful of pancake into Nicole's mouth and grinned as the girl happily opened her mouth, glancing over his shoulder when he pulled the spoon away.

"We'll leave later in the afternoon, that is if Braxton would like to attend with us," James said, not trusting Braxton to stay alone at all, he could tell James and Lily didn't trust him around Nicole either but for the sake of their children who were quick to become attached to people, they both stayed quiet.

"Braxton would ya, please?" Jonathan asked softly with a pleading smile on his face. Braxton didn't really want to go but with this opportunity, he could see Lycoris, plus he really couldn't say no.

"Sure, I'd love to," Braxton said, putting up a whole gentleman attitude towards it.

"Then we'll leave in a couple hours."

 **~OoO~**

The Potters and Braxton landed almost a mile away from the Quidditch World Cup, in a grassy meadow.

"We have'ta walk?" Nicole whined as she was a two-year-old and couldn't contain herself. Braxton laughed softly and picked her up from behind, lifting her onto his shoulders. She smiled widely at this and wrapped her tiny hands around Braxton's raised wrists to hold on.

James clenched his fists as his daughter propped her chin against the boy's head, looking happy and content that he was carrying her, and willed himself to calm down. There was nothing he could do about the growing bond between the two, all he could do was watch and never let the boy out of his sights with his daughter.

"We don't want muggles to notice darling. The whole Ministry has been working on setting up as many anti-muggle precautions as possible." Lily explained as they walked on, crossing the field in the direction he supposed the event was held.

The sun was starting to set over head as they walked, showing a beautiful streak of colors that painted the horizon in deep shades of red, orange, pink, and yellow.

Braxton loved sunsets, they were always so beautiful and gave him a sense of peace. He saw them as proof that no matter what happened, no matter what terrors he inflicted, every day could end in beauty. And even though that sounded cheesy it still gave him peace, because in his world there wasn't much beauty and there was a hell of a lot less peace.

They walked on for a good ten minutes, finally stopping at what appeared to be a deserted stretch of misty moor. In front of them was a pair of tired and grumpy-looking wizards, one of whom was holding a large gold watch, the other a thick roll of parchment and a quill. Both were dressed as Muggles, though very inexpertly: The man with the watch wore a tweed suit with thigh-length galoshes; his colleague, a kilt, and a poncho.

The sight almost made Braxton laugh, almost.

"Good Evening, Basil," Said James addressing the one in the kilt and poncho. He seemed to be the one opening the portkey to let people inside.

"Evening James, it's good to see you again. I see you've got your family here with you, but I thought you only had two children?" Basil's brow furrowed as he looked Braxton over, taking in the young man appearance, his eyes lingering on the cloak draped over his shoulders.

"Oh no you're right, we do only have two, Johnathan, and Nicole, this is, Braxton Potter. He is my nephew from America. He will be staying with us for awhile and will be attending Hogwarts in this upcoming school year." Lily said, lying with incredible ease, flashing a smile even Braxton would admit was gorgeous.

"Isn't that lovely. Welcome to England, Mr. Braxton Potter." Basil smiled at them, believing the story easily. Braxton watched as the poncho man picked up one of the port keys, an old boot, and unlocked it. A wooden door you would see in medieval times appeared.

"Thank you, Basil," James said and opened the door revealing a bunch of mist. James led the way and they walked through the door and into the fine mist beyond. They continued walking through the mist until they stumbled upon a small stone cottage next to a gate. Beyond it, Braxton could make out the ghostly shapes of hundreds and hundreds of tents.

A man stood as they approached and Braxton knew at a glance that this was the only real Muggle for several acres.

"Morning!" said James brightly.

"Morning," said the muggle.

"Would you be Mr. Roberts?"

"Aye, I would." Said Mr. Roberts. "And who're you?"

"Potter – one tent, booked a couple months ago."

"Aye," said Mr. Roberts, consulting a list tacked to the door. "You've got a space up by the wood there. Just one night, right?"

"That's it." James said with a smile.

"You'll be paying now, then?" said Mr. Roberts.

"Certainly," James said and turned to his wife for help. He never was good at muggle currency. Lily took out 40 pounds from her purse and handed it to Mr. Roberts.

"This should handle the cost." Said Lily.

"Yes, thank you. A map of the campsite for you and your change." Mr. Roberts said and gave them a map of the place and 5 pounds in change.

James nodded and they walked in through the gate.

They trudged up the misty field between long rows of tents most looked almost ordinary; their owners had clearly tried to make them as Muggle-like as possible but had slipped up by adding chimneys, or bellpulls, or weather vanes. However, here and there was a tent so obviously magical that Braxton was surprised that Mr. Roberts wasn't getting suspicious. Halfway up the field stood an extravagant confection of striped silk like a miniature palace, with several live peacocks tethered at the entrance. A little farther on they passed a tent that had three floors and several turrets; and a short way beyond that was a tent that had a front garden attached, complete with a birdbath, sundial, and fountain.

"Always the same," said James, smiling as he looked about fondly. "We can't resist showing off when we get together. Ah, here we are, this is us. And the Weasley's tent is already set up next to ours." At that statement, Braxton frowned on the inside, but he kept a blank face.

They had reached the very edge of the wood at the top of the field, and there was an empty space, with a small sign hammered into the ground that read POTTER. Around 10 feet on the right side of the sign said WEEZLY.

"Couldn't have a better spot!" James exclaimed brightly. "The field is just on the other side of the wood there, we're as close as we could be,"

James grabbed his wand from his back pocket and spelled a tent to appear. "Now that's the only magic we'll use. No magic allowed because we're on Muggle land." The tent appeared small, but Braxton knew better. Inside was probably the size of a small apartment.

Jonathan was the first one in followed by James and then Lily. Braxton removed Nicole from his shoulders and secured her on his hip. He ducked in to see that Jonathan was already in one of the rooms looking around. Braxton set Nicole down to look around her new surroundings. She toddled around the room, giggling as she took it all in. It seemed that she didn't get out much.

It seemed like the tent had three bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, and living room. The room was nicely decorated, probably by Lily Potter. There were pictures hung around of their family, even a couple of pictures of a baby with jet black hair and piercing green eyes dotted the walls, to Braxton's surprise, and suddenly, he didn't feel at all comfortable.

"Alright let's settle in for the night!" Lily's voice was fast and excited, her eyes sparkling "James and I share a room, Harry and Jonathan share a room, and Nicole gets to have her own room since it's extremely small and it has a crib in it." Her tongue letting slip Braxton's birth name. Good thing Jonathan was too busy looking around in one of the rooms to hear.

"Braxton," He knew he shouldn't have said it, but the sound of that name along with the pictures of himself when he was a baby that seemed to gawk down at him made his skin crawl and his stomach turn.

"What?" Lily's confused answer sounded throughout the now silent room.

Raising his eyes from where they had dropped to the ground, Braxton couldn't stop himself from glaring at Lily. "My name is Braxton, not Harry and I think you would do well to remember it,"

Never before had Braxton talked to an adult like this, but the anger that suddenly came boiling to the surface was too much to ignore. Plus, it was something he needed to say, he had only been with the Potter's for a short time and already they seemed to be blurring the lines that separated Braxton for Harry or at least Lily did.

"Bubba!" Nicole suddenly screamed, running over the Braxton, seeming to not like the tense silence that had fallen over the group.

"Goodnight little Robin," Braxton said and kissed the top of Nicole's head. Her long dark red hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

"Night Bubba," Nicole replied softly and somehow managed to kiss Braxton's cheek as he rose.

And with that Braxton moved off to the door Lily had motioned to earlier, stepped inside and quietly closed the oak behind him, breathing a sigh of relief when he finally had a barrier between him and those he called his enemies. It seemed as if Jonathan had ended up in James and Lily's room, so he wouldn't have to deal with that annoyance for a couple more minutes.

-0-

After tossing and turning for a few hours Braxton decided that sleep was a fruitless endeavor and decided that a good long run would clear his head. He got up from his twin bed and changed into a t-shirt and shorts, his toned muscles flexing as he pulled on the garments. He was in the middle of being fit and on the boney side, with arms that were toned and had visible muscles definition but nothing too bulky, his torso was lean and showed only the finest hint of the power held below. After the fight or one sentence standoff, they had last night Braxton decided it best to leave a note on the table so that they wouldn't wake up, find him gone, panic, and then send the Calvary in after him.

Braxton left the tent and was unsurprised to see that it was still dark outside. It wouldn't be light for another hour at least but that was fine, the moon gave off enough light, and anyway, the darkness was more of a comfort than the light ever was.

He started his long run, dodging behind the potter's tent and in a few quick strides was heading into the forest. It wasn't a dense patch of trees and though there were a few roots that he had to jump over it was better the running in between tents.

It was sometime during the end of his run when it happened, he was running along a group of trees that seemed taller than the sky when he sensed someone near him, and for a moment his stomach gave a sickening lurch but then his heart rose. Braxton stopped running and laughed for the first real time since the raid when he felt the presence come closer to him.

Turning Braxton saw his twin brother, not as the child he was supposed to be impersonating but in his true form. Lycoris grinned and just the sight of such an achingly familiar gesture made Braxton lose all sense of dignity.

With a sobbing cry of relief Braxton throw himself at his twin, doing so with more force than he meant to and sending them both tumbling to the ground.

Braxton didn't even care that the morning dew was making his clothes wet and dirty, all he cared about was pulling Lycoris as close as he could and hugging him tightly.

Merlin, he had missed him.

"Good to see you too," Lycoris said with that teasing laugh of his, obviously thinking Braxton's dramatics amusing, and earning a light punch in return.

They both had anxiety whenever they were separated from each other, but they could surely handle it, but there reuse always played out similarly, tackling hugs, sometimes even tears.

"How's the Black life suiting you?" Braxton asked finally, releasing his twin and sitting up.

"It's actually pretty challenging. The triplets are a nightmare, reminds me of us when we were little." Lycoris said, grinning. "I wonder how father and mother dealt with us." Lycoris asked with a shake of his head and Braxton grinned.

It was just them, no other siblings, and yet they were little devils always causing trouble.

"They had a lot of help from Uncle Rodolphus, Uncle Rabastion, Severus, and Lucius. It also either helped or made it worse when Draco and Lauren came over, but all you wanted to do with Lauren is snog." Braxton said and Lycoris turned bright red.

"We did not-" Lycoris said trying to defend himself, but Braxton cut him off.

"Remember our link? I know everything you did to that poor girl." Braxton replied and if it was possible Lycoris got even redder.

Lycoris wasn't a virgin anymore and Braxton knew it once it happened. He felt a rush of hormones, lust, and love when Lycoris had sex for the first time. It was easy to figure out what Lycoris was doing.

Braxton had spent the rest of that day huddled in a corner with Nagini wrapped comfortably around him and thinking over the pros and cons of murdering his twin the next time he saw him.

"When you have sex for the first time you'll go through the same thing I went through," Lycoris said and smirked, causing Braxton to flush slightly this time.

Lycoris was a little proud that he was de-flowered before his twin, but Braxton didn't care. He was a homosexual and he didn't care about girls that way, he hadn't even seen a boy that he remotely thought of as a partner. Maybe Draco, but not really. Plus, he was sure that Draco was straight. Right?

Braxton just rolled his eyes and ignored his older brother. "How did you get out of the grips of the Black family?"

"I said I was going to get water, it's seven am and they wake up pretty earlier. Not as early at us, but it's better than nothing." Lycoris explained and Braxton nodded, it was getting late, he would probably have to get home soon.

"You better get water for them then, I need to head back. I've been out since four," Braxton said, not even noticing that the way his twin suddenly looked at him.

"What happened?"

The question didn't really take him by surprise, Braxton had known that Lycoris would feel his anger, but he hadn't expected his twin to comment on it.

"Nothing, happened Ly,"

"You're forgetting that I can feel your every emotion little brother, I know you were upset last night and you just admitted that you were up much earlier than normal which leads me to believe that you didn't sleep much last night. So... What happened?"

Damn Lycoris and his perceptive mind.

"It's nothing important," At Lycoris's look Braxton rolled his eyes, "You know I would tell you if it was, it was nothing, please just... leave it be,"

Lycoris looked like he didn't want to do anything close to leaving it be but nodded anyway. "You know you can talk to me anything right, about anything. You never have to hide things from me Brax,"

Smiling softly, Braxton stood from the ground and held out a hand to help his twin up to.

Pulling Lycoris into another hug, Braxton let his gratitude for his brother pulse out through their bond, "I know," Came his whisper and Braxton could feel Lycoris smile against his shoulder.

"Be careful out there," Lycoris whispered to Braxton and he smiled. He held onto his twin brother, this was probably one of the only times they could be alone for a while.

"Only if you do," Braxton replied back and they chuckled softly. They released from their hug and they went their separate ways, Lycoris morphing back into the young Black-Lupin boy as he walked away.

Braxton made his way back to the Potter tent just as the light of dawn was starting to really shine and slipped inside.

They were all up, the whole family and all but James looked up at his entrance. Braxton assumed correctly that he was not in the least happy with the way Braxton had spoke to his wife the night before.

Lily was the first to greet him, her smile watery but still there and her "Good Morning Braxton." was as warm as it could be. So, it seemed James was the only one holding a grudge.

James sat with his back to Braxton, which was just fine with the younger boy, he didn't feel like talking much.

He saw that Lily had just finished making breakfast, which was being laid out on the table spread before the family. Nicole was in her high chair and Jonathan was seated next to James. Leaving the only open seat right across from James and on his other side.

This was fine though, he could just as easily ignore James.

"Are you hungry?" Lily's tentative voice was not one Braxton could ignore, however.

"Yes please, let me just get ready then I'll be out," Braxton said to Lily, who nodded her understand, taking in his sweaty clothes and dirt smeared skin.

He did his normal morning routine in recorded, time, jumping into the shower only to jump back out in what seemed like seconds.

By the time he emerged from the room barely five minutes had passed and the family had not even started eating yet, Lily still fussing around with dishes, cups, and things to drink.

"Mrs. Potter, please sit down. I'll get the drinks." Braxton offered before he could really think about it. You really couldn't blame him, he had been brought up to be a gentleman and even though he was sometimes anything but, he was still not one to sit idly by while a lady worked.

Plus, he had to act like he was trying and in truth he did feel a bit bad for what he said last night, well not what he said but more of how he said it.

Without letting Lily's object surface, Braxton picked the glass she had been taking down from the cupboard off the counter and started to place them in front of each placemat before grabbing the drinks themselves to place on the table.

"Why thank you, Braxton," Lily said, unable to keep the surprise out of her voice, but Braxton didn't really care. He was helping her out and that was what mattered, not her reaction.

Lily went to go take a seat next to James while Braxton transferred all the drinks Lily had had out then sat down across from them all.

There was an awkward silence that stretched out for a long moment until Johnathan broke it by suddenly commenting on Ireland's chances of winning the game. Jonathan and James immediately started discussing which Quidditch team was better. Jonathan liked Ireland's team while James liked Bulgaria's.

Braxton didn't really understand the fuss over the teams, they were both good. In a fight, if he had to take sides he would side with Jonathan since he wouldn't allow himself to agree with whatever James had to say.

They soon finished the meals and James quickly cleaned up, not wanting Braxton to do it.

"Lily, why don't you take the kids over to the Weasley tent once they get dressed? They haven't seen them for a little while, I have a few colleagues I need to meet with this morning but I'll be back in an hour or two," James said as he put all the plates in the sink, his eyes firmly not looking anyway close to where Braxton way sitting.

Oh, Merlin, was the only thing that Braxton's consciousness could think for a long moment before he started cursing with vengeance in the dark depth of his mind. The Weasleys, Blood Traitoring, Muggle loving, scumbags as they were, were some of the last people that Braxton ever wanted to spend a minute with.

But what was to be done?

Say no, please!

"Alright," Lily said as she pulled Nicole from her booster seat.

Dammit, Lily!

"Bye-bye!" Nicole said and waved her hand at the boys and Johnathan mimicked the movement, causing his sister to giggle softly.

The boys both went into the room they shared. Braxton had dressed only in a plain pair of short and ratty old tee shirt for breakfast and it would not do to be seen in that by anyone outside of the Potter family, so, with unsaid agreement, both boys turned their backs and faced the opposite corners of the room, trying to give the other privacy. The only person to ever see Braxton nude was his twin brother and it was only because they were comfortable dressing in front of each other.

Begrudgingly, Braxton changed into a pair of black jeans that hugged his form nicely but not too much, a grey t-shirt, and his dementor cloak, making sure that nobody could sense the darkness that came from the black cloak.

Lily didn't have too bad of a taste in clothes, something Braxton was happy for. But her taste in company could use much improvement. Braxton wondered if he would spare Lily, he most certainly would no spare James Potter, and he would leave Jonathan Potter for Lycoris to deal with.

"You decent?" Jonathan asked from across the small room.

"Yes," Braxton replied back and turned around to see Jonathan in a dark raven cloak with black clothes underneath. Without another word, they exited the tiny room and found Lily waiting for them in the front, wearing a yellow sundress with white flowers all over it, she seemed to like dresses.

"Ready?" Lily asked and both boys nodded. Braxton saw James with Nicole in his arms, taking her to his room. The boys followed Lily out of the tent, Jonathan going in front of Braxton. The morning sun temporarily blinded Braxton, but he blinked away the spots.

Around them, people were out and about starting their days. The campsite area they were in seemed to be made up of mostly all wizards, their appearances of 'muggle fashion' easily gave them away. Braxton followed behind Lily with Jonathan next to him. They walked a hundred feet to the left and ended up at the Weasley's tent. It was an ugly beige, compared to the rich emerald of the Potter tent.

Braxton loathed seeing the state of the inside.

Lily approached the tent flap unzipped a little of it so her voice could project through.

"Arthur! Molly! Are we allowed in?" Lily replied with her voiced raised, but not at a shouting level. A couple seconds later the tent fully unzipped showing a man with balding red hair. He had a brown distasteful suit on. Once the tent was unzipped Braxton heard a lot of bustling going on inside, far more than what was normal. Even though there were about 8 or so more people inside Braxton thought they were making an unnecessary amount of noise.

"Come on in, we just finished up with breakfast," Arthur said and he turned to face Jonathan, his smile wide but his eyes landed on Braxton instead, and his face turned pale; smile vanishing.

He knew who Braxton was, all the order did but not their family's. That was why he put his smile back on, even though it was weak and tightlipped.

"Well now you must be Braxton, Lily and James told us you would be coming alone. Been talking a lot about you, those two. It's good to finally put a face to the name, I'm Arthur Weasley," Arthur said extending a hand that he obviously did not want to extend.

"Yes, I am. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Weasley." Braxton said with a professional approach to it, reaching out to shake his hand then drop it as hastily as he could without it being obvious, while really his insides were turning.

Mr. Weasley was a blood traitor and he couldn't handle to be around blood traitors. He did have so much going for him with his blood status, but his ancestors tainted it and he embraced it with working in the Muggle department at the ministry, the lowest department in Braxton's eyes. This man was what Braxton thought of as a disgrace to the wizarding name. Arthur Weasley and his family would be one of the first ones to get killed, Braxton would make sure of it.

"Well come in then, we've just finished breakfast and it would be lovely to have some company." Arthur quickly stepped out of the way so they could go inside. Lily went in first, followed by Jonathan, and then, reluctantly Braxton. The interior design was way different than the Potters'. There were patterns all over the room instead of the strict design in the Potter tent.

There were many in the room but only three girls, and it was because of this that his eyes were drawn to them first before the rest. Ginny, the presumed youngest and only daughter of the Weasleys, and a brown-haired girl with frizzy hair were doing the dishes with Molly, a middle-aged woman with the same type of grey red hair as her husband, was assisting with the packing away, flicking her wand about with practiced movements and sending plates away to their proper places.

No one seemed to notice Braxton as they entered, looking up at Lily and Jonathan rather than him, which was fine with Braxton. Molly quickly made her way over and greeted Lily with a hug and some overly sappy words of welcome.

The other males were just chatting and sitting around. A pair of identical twins and a younger boy, that was most likely Ron Weasley, was sitting on a couch talking about Quidditch.

Braxton mentally scoffed at the boys doing nothing and taking the girls for granted.

Not wanting to be around such useless slobs for a moment more than he had to, Braxton quickly made his way over to the girls, who at least looked half intelligent, unlike some of the men in the tent.

"Madams', would you like any extra assistance?" Braxton asked politely and the two girls quickly faced him, startled.

"Oh no, you don't have to do that," Said the one with frizzy brown hair, not knowing who he was and why he was there but figuring that he must be a friend of the Weasley family or something.

"No please I insist," Braxton said and already started to grab a towel and help dry the dishes alongside Ginny Weasley. Ginny looked at Braxton and her cheeks turned as red as her hair. Braxton did have this type of reaction on girls, even though he didn't really want to. He was looked at as dashingly handsome, even at such a young age and he was often the cause of blushes and giggles along with school girl crushes. Braxton forced a smile upon his lips, acting the gentleman he was raised to be.

"Hi," The girl squeaked out, blushing even harder at the high-pitched sound that escaped her lips. Braxton might not have been into girls like that but even he could see that this was a pretty girl. "I'm Ginny," Ginny said shyly, her face fully red now, almost matching her hair. Braxton grabbed another dish and dried it.

"Pleased to meet you, Ginny, my name is Braxton Potter," Braxton said, flashing a dashing grin that had once caused a girl to swoon.

Ginny seemed to have been put into a trance, she stared at Braxton like he was something out of a romance novel. The preverbal knight in shining armor.

"Braxton Potter? I didn't realize there were other Potters." The girl with frizzy hair asked, though taking in Ginny's stupor at the boy in front of them she supposed they hadn't ever met before either.

"I'm from America. James Potter is my Uncle. I will be staying with them after an accident with my parents in America." Braxton said, lying with ease.

"I'm sorry about your parents. So, you're going to Hogwarts this year?" Ginny replied believing the story.

"Yes, I'll be starting in the fall with the rest," Braxton said which Ginny look excited.

'Poor thing, already smitten.' Braxton thought.

"How would that work? I thought someone could only start when they were eleven? Isn't that going to be disruptive to your education, to suddenly switch schools for a year? Haven't you been thought different things then us at your school? And how are you going to be sorted if you haven't been here for the past few years? And how-"

"Goodness Hermione let him breath why don't you." Braxton didn't think he had ever been so grateful for a girl interrupting his conversation before in his life.

All her, Hermione he now knew, questions were wreaking havoc on his nerves.

"Its quite alright," No it bloody well isn't, "And to answer your questions, for the school year, I will be treated as any other student and will even be sorted into a house for the upcoming year I will be attending at Hogwarts. I will be sorted right before all the first years. And yes it is going to be a bit of a transition from my schools ways of teaching to yours but I'm in no position to attend any other school especially since my Aunt and Uncle teach at Hogwarts." Braxton explained, winking at Ginny who blushed and ducked her head, causing her bushy hair friend to roll her eyes. Yes he was good looking but honestly, there was more to a person then looks.

Braxton silently went over everything he had said in his head. Yes, he was going to be with the first years, but he wouldn't be sorted. Dumbledore had already pre-determined his house, which was a part of their agreement. He decided that there was nothing particularly suspicious in what he had said and he relaxed when neither girl seemed to suspect anything.

"Which house do you think you'll get into?" He heard the youngest male Weasley say from over the couch, which surprised Braxton and the girls greatly.

Turning his head Braxton saw that sometime during their talk the room had fallen quiet, all eyes watching them.

No, he corrected himself, not them, you.

"I don't know, I could really be sorted into any," Braxton replied as he helped finish up the last of the dishes.

"Braxton's going to get into Gryffindor just like I am!" Jonathan said with all the confidence in the world, not even knowing about the agreement.

"So, you'll be joining my house and becoming a little lion?" Ron asked playfully to Jonathan and laughed. Jonathan replied with a roar and jumped onto Ron while Braxton just rolled his eyes, trying to make the gesture look playful.

"You should join us-"

"-for some study hall."

"-It's for all years." Forge said.

"Don't. You'll just get experimented on for their joke shop." Braxton heard Ron whisper into Jonathan's ear.

They finished up the last of the dishes and made their way over to the other boys. Braxton tried to ignore the way Molly Weasley stared at him, like he was a lost kitten that had washed up on her door steps with cuts and bruises and a broken heart. He tuned out her pitying looks. She was not his concern; she could look and pity all she like, as long as she never didn't anything about it.

"We should start heading off to the Quidditch field, to go claim our seats." Arthur Weasley said and got up.

"Good idea Arthur. Is everyone ready? George, Fred don't you dare bring any tricks. Ron, Ginny make sure to grab your things, and I want everyone to grab their cloaks, who knows how long the game could go on for," Molly said loudly, making most of her children groan and drag their feet as they stood for one reason or another.

Lily moved to stand by Johnathan and it just so happens Braxton as well.

"Everyone ready?" Molly asked loudly once again.

"Yes." Everyone replied out of sync and in small groups and lines they headed out, Braxton being the last of them, right behind his little brother, the one who might never know their real connection. He sighed softly to himself, this would be a very long day. A very long day indeed.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Quidditch World Cup Part 2

Braxton bounced Nicole up and down on his knee as she giggled. Her wide eyes watched the game going on in front of them while she was sucking on the pacifier in her mouth. They had box office seats so they had a bloody spectacular view, but Braxton really wasn't intrigued with the game. He was sitting on the very right side in the front row, sitting next to Jonathan. Jonathan wanted to sit in the front and Braxton didn't want to be annoyed by one of the Weasels, so he gave in and sat in the front.

Nicole was being fussy with James so Braxton had offered to take her and she immediately became quiet. James frowned as Braxton was better with Nicole, but didn't say anything. Lily was beyond delighted that Braxton was getting along with his little sister, but she had a fear in the back of her mind of Braxton apparating off with her daughter, but the ankle brace that stopped him from using magic gave her some peace of mind.

The Weasleys' were beyond startled that James just handed off Nicole to Braxton, since Nicole really didn't play well with people she just met, but they didn't say anything. They didn't want to cause a scene. Children, in general, just liked Braxton better, surprisingly since he was the next Dark Lord.

Braxton paid no attention to the game, he didn't even like Quidditch so why bother? He took moments like this to talk with Lycoris, but even then, his brother was interested in the game. Braxton and Lycoris had many things in common, Quidditch not being one of them.

'Why is Krum going for the snitch?! They're too behind for his team to win with the snitch.' Lycoris transmitted angrily to Braxton, which resulted in him rolling his eyes.

'Why is everyone so interested in this bloody game?' Braxton transmitted, obviously very annoyed by it. It would have been better if Lycoris was next to him, but no. The Black-Lupin Family had seats elsewhere, since the 3 families wouldn't all fit in the box office.

The scoreboard lit up brighter than before, causing Braxton to look up. There he saw the Scoreboard flashing **Bulgaria: 160, Ireland: 170** across the crowd, who didn't seem to have realized what had happened. Then, slowly, as though a great jumbo jet were revving up, the rumbling from the Ireland supporters grew louder and louder and erupted into screams of delight. Everyone next to Braxton were on their feet, making Braxton and Nicole the odd ones out. Braxton stayed seated as Nicole raised her arms in the air, mimicking the movements of everyone else.

"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted, who like the Irish, seemed to be taken aback by the sudden end of the match. "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH – BUT IRELAND WINS – good lord, I don't believe any of us were expecting that!"

'Finally, this Bloody game is over.' Braxton transmitted to Lycoris in a mutter. Lycoris replied in a scoff.

'Krum is an idiot.' Lycoris said, obviously mad that his team didn't win.

'Suck it up, Quidditch is just a mediocre sport for the dimwitted. I don't even see why you play it.' Braxton transmitted as he got up, picking Nicole up. He rested her on his hip. She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Someone's sleepy huh?" He muttered softly as he supported his little sister in his arms.

'That's like me telling you studying is for people who don't have any social skills and can't score a date.' Lycoris shot back defensely, which made Braxton scoff.

"Whatever Lycoris." Braxton replied and rolled his eyes. He then looked over to the people around him, they were all talking about the game.

"Wasn't that bloody brilliant!?" Jonathan asked Braxton with a huge grin. Braxton put on a fake smile and nodded.

"Yeah it definitely was. Ireland's beaters were really scoring hard. No wonder why Krum wanted to end the game, he didn't want his team to get beaten so hard." Braxton replied, trying to put things together. Jonathan laughed at his remark and nodded.

"Most definitely." Jonathan said and then turned around to see that everyone was already starting to exit. Braxton followed behind everyone else, Jonathan kept talking about the game, Braxton not really paying attention to him, just giving him nods of acknowledgement to pretend he was listening. They made their way back to their tent, he heard them talking about a big dinner with everyone, including the Black-Lupin family since they hadn't seen them all day. Braxton was a little excited to see his twin, he would most likely wouldn't be sitting next to him, but it would be a comforting feeling of having his twin in the same room as him.

They walked down the dirt pathway since it was a campground. There were a bunch of other people doing the same thing, going back to their tents as well. If only they knew who he really was, he was the Dark Lord acting as a Light Wizard's child.

"Bubba." Braxton heard Nicole whisper faintly. This snapped him out of his daydreams. He looked down at Nicole's droopy eyes and smiled softly.

"Yes sweetheart?" Braxton whispered softly as he rubbed her back. He then saw that Nicole's face was red. He ran his hand over her forehead and discovered it was burning up. Braxton cursed softly, Nicole had been outside in the cold for too long. Braxton put his hand directly on her forehead and muttered a healing spell which instantly made Nicole's face turn back to its normal color.

"Bubba makes better." Nicole replied with a huge grin on her face, like he was the center of her world. Braxton laughed softly as he saw the look on her face. Hopefully she would always be looking at him like this. Having a little sister wouldn't be too bad. He could get her blood adopted once he took her back with him, making her his full sister. She would be too young to fully remember everything about her Potter past, she was only 2.

"Let that be our little secret." Braxton whispered into her ear which just made giggles erupt from her mouth, which caused Lily to look back at them with a smile on her face.

"What's so funny?" Lily asked Braxton with a confused yet delighted look on her face.

"I don't know, she just started laughing out of know where. What's making you laugh little one?" Braxton replied and started to tickle her softly, which made more giggles erupt. Braxton stopped and rubbed her back soothingly as her giggles calmed down softly, just as they arrived at their not so little tent.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour at our tent, I'll go send a couple of my boys to go tell the Black-Lupins." Arthur Weasley said and James Potter nodded.

"Alright," James replied, not wanting to offer to send Braxton along with them, still not fully trusting him. He seemed like a fine gentleman, but he didn't want to let his guard down just in case something did happen. Braxton was probably just putting up an act anyway, so James would just play along with it. He also hated how Nicole was so comfortable with Braxton. It's probably because Braxton put a spell on her, yeah that's it. That's must of what he did.

James opened the tent and went inside followed by the rest of the Potters. Braxton took Nicole and went over to the couch with a bunch of baby toys scattered around. Jonathan went next to Braxton and took out a DSI, a muggle device that he was so fond of. It was Lily's idea to get him that for his birthday. Lily went over to the bookshelves and got herself an enjoyable book to read and James went over to the Newspaper and sat by Lily to read next to her.

For the next hour, they pretty much stayed in the same spot, except for Nicole. She was running around the place giggling. She had so much energy, if she had the same amount in the future she could come in handy.

"Anyone home?" Braxton heard from the tent door. It was unzipped a tiny bit so the voice could travel inside. Braxton quickly scooped up Nicole and stood up alert. He recognized this voice, put all it brought was adrenaline to his system.

"Calm down Braxton, it's just Uncle Sirius." Jonathan told him with confusion in his voice on the way Braxton was acting. Braxton sighed softly as he forced himself to calm down. He would be on high alert for the next couple of hours, but he would always be like that. He couldn't afford to let his guard down.

James quickly made his way to the front of the tent and unzipped it to show a man with a ruggedly beard and with poor dress test. Yep, this was Sirius Black. James quickly embraced the man with a grin and then did the same thing to the red head man behind Sirius, with the same scruffy look. Braxton assumed it was Sirius's husband, Remus Lupin.

"Where's the triplets?" James asked, standing in the doorway. Lily got up and motioned for them to get up as well. They both got up, Braxton holding onto Nicole protectively.

"They've already ran into the Weasley's tent." Lupin replied and James laughed and shook his head. Sirius got out of the way so James could exit followed by Lily, Jonathan, and lastly Braxton with Nicole. He saw that they weren't alone, there were 3 other figures next to Remus and Sirius. He looked up at the first person and his heart stopped.

He felt his breath leave him as he looked upon what he felt like was perfection. He had never felt this way before, certainly not towards anyone like this. He couldn't move, it was like he was awestruck.

'Braxton what's wrong.' He heard Lycoris instantly transmit to him, feeling his sudden mood switches. Lycoris couldn't tell what was happening, it was something he never felt Braxton feel. It was somewhat like what Lycoris felt for Lauren, but he didn't understand why Braxton was feeling that here, of all places.

'Who is that.' He replied in an almost whisper, Lycoris barley making out what Braxton said.

'Chris?' Lycoris asked back, absolutely confused. He didn't understand what was going on, did someone put a spell on him?

Braxton examined every detail on Chris, feeling like he was the most important person in the world. Braxton wanted-needed to find out more about him. Chris was holding a child, probably his own younger sister, just like Braxton was. The other girl looked like Chris, they're raven colored hair almost identical, just that the girls was longer but it was still as messy as Chris's. Braxton looked up to meet the boy's brown chocolate innocent eyes. It seemed that Chris was feeling the same way as Braxton, both boys looking at each other with wonder while the others talked not fully taking notice to the eldest.

"My name is Christopher Black-Lupin, I am the eldest child of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin." Braxton heard the deep silky voice of the male say.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Christopher. I am Braxton Potter, nephew to James and Lily Potter." Braxton replied with ease.

"I've believe we've met before since you look so familiar. Probably just infants at the time." Christopher replied a soft smile was put on his face.

"I believe we have met, but it would have been too far back for me to remember. It is nice to meet you again, this time properly." Braxton replied softly and Christopher laughed, which made Braxton's heart do a flip. He cursed at himself for feeling this way, had he developed a crush on this boy? No that was absorb, impossible to think such a thing.

"Bubba! Destiny!" Nicole yelled out pointing to the child in Christopher's arms. The adults were talking away while Lycoris and Jonathan were talking. Braxton felt annoyance radiating from Lycoris, but it was normal since Lycoris was talking to a light families' child. Lycoris was always so prejudiced by blood. The only exception he made was for Braxton, and the reason why was because his blood was cleaned by the blood adoption the Dark Lord had put on him so many years ago.

"Is that your friend?" Braxton asked in a soft calming voice. Once Nicole went with him back to their manor she would never be seeing the Black daughter every again. Nicole would probably end up killing them when she's older, he would see to it. Braxton could picture it now, Nicole's first kill. The only daughter to the Black-Lupin legacy, killed by the former Potter daughter and the former best friend of her. He couldn't wait to set this up when she's older. It wouldn't be like Nicole wouldn't have any friends, she'll have her future brother-in-law, Trevor Snape, to play with. She would only be a little over a year older than him.

"Yuh!" Nicole said and started clapping her hands, which made white roses pop up around her, which resulted in them dancing. Braxton grinned, accidental magic at this young. Most children starting to show they had magic at the earliest of 3 or 4. The white roses started to go dark, turning black. Braxton instantly spelled them away, he couldn't let Christopher see this or he would think it was suspicious. White roses meant pure and innocent, but Black meant death was common. Something was going to happen tonight and Nicole's magic was somehow trying to warn him.

Meanwhile at Slytherin Manor

The sickening laughs of the dark lord filled the dirty cellar, enough to make anyone's stomach drop. Ryan Black, the boy that Lycoris was replacing, had chains on his ankles and wrists that bound him to the wall. He was on the floor spasming after undergoing yet another Crucio from the dark lord. The Dark Lord wasn't looking for any information from the boy, just getting the thrill from a light child's pain.

Ryan learned to stop begging knowing that the Dark Lord wasn't going to stop. He wanted his life to end, the pain to go away. He gave up hope of his parents saving him. He always shoved his consciousness to the back of his mind so he wouldn't feel any external pain. He was in the back of his mind, playing with his siblings and his best friend, Jonathan Potter. He would swing Destiny around in the air to make her giggle and chase around the rambunctious triplets. Chris would be popping out of hiding spots scaring the triplets, making them giggle and scream. His dads would be on the side sitting down just watching them play. This was Ryan's happy place, somewhere he could stay forever until he was released from the pain. His body still made the movements of being tortured, the spasming still happening, but his mind was elsewhere. It was a type of out of body experience.

The Dark Lord threw another Crucio at the boy who was not responding anymore. He was started to grow bored of him, maybe he should go and torture Mad-Eyed Moody. Yes, that was a clever idea. Barty Crouch Jr had the idea of locking him in a chest, but that wasn't going to work. He would be found eventually. Why not lock him up in the dungeon so the Dark Lord could torture him whenever he pleased. He had his arms snapped so even if he could get to a wand it he couldn't perform any magic with it.

'Winguardium Leviosa.' The Dark Lord nonverbally casts at the small boy. Ryan was forcefully thrust to the ceiling and the Dark Lord released from the spell, which caused Ryan to fall to the floor. A crunch of bones was heard, which pleased the dark lord.

The Dark Lord left the dark and dirty cellar to find a death eater rushing over to him. Once he came close he instantly fell to the feet of the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord recognized him as Regulus Black, one of his most faithful inner circle members. He had never married, but had managed to produce an offspring by accident. His daughter was almost 6 and was already started to learn the Dark Arts. She was a prodigy of the dark arts, which incredibly pleased the Dark Lord. He allowed his death eaters to have children on one condition, they would be taught the dark arts as they grew and would train hard to become part of his death eaters. His numbers would grow and be more powerful since they would start them very young.

Kyler Snape was a valuable asset since he was the Headboy at Hogwarts he had influence on the younger ones. Kyler was incredibly skilled as a potions master, just like his father so if his something did happen to his father, Kyler was able to take over.

"Rise Regulus." The Dark Lord said, his voice was very deep and powerful. Regulus quickly rises.

"The Death Eaters are ready to leave at your command to raid the Quidditch World Cup." Regulus said in a steady tone. The Dark Lord grinned at his information. The Dark didn't say anything and simply went up the stairs of the dungeon with Regulus right behind him. Today he had all his death eaters here ready for the attack. He hadn't led a raid in a while since he had always trusted his boys to do it, but his boys were on a mission of upmost importance. This raid was going to help his sons. The Dark Lord knew that Braxton wouldn't come with them, he would stay under his cover and protect the other children there. He always had a soft spot for children and he hated to see them hurt, but he knew it was necessary for some of them to get hurt or killed even. Braxton understood that they were at war and there were casualties.

The Dark Lord went in front of rank, his face as quite pale, his eyes a devilish red, and his nose of a snake. He didn't present himself to his death eaters any other way. The new recruits were in the front, then the outer circle, and then the inner circle in the back. He had a couple Hogwarts students in the mix that helped him spy. Draco Malfoy was a part of the new recruits.

"All of you understand tasks that Lucius explained to you for the raid?" The Dark Lord called out to his death eaters.

"Yes, my lord." All of all of them replied instantly, which made a sickening grin appear on the Dark Lords face. All of them were in their dark cloaks with a snake on the front. They also had their silver masks on, which made everyone uniform. The only differences were the heights of everyone.

"Good. If you see my youngest son, the one with the dark green eyes, you will engage contact. You will aggravate him and make him challenge you. Do you understand?" The Dark lord instructed, making everyone feel uneasy at the request. They didn't understand what one of the Dark Princes did that caused his father's reaction. They didn't question it, mostly out of fear.

"Yes, my lord." They all instantly replied again. The Dark Lord nodded and put on a mask just like them. He wanted to be able to strike out of surprise, nobody knowing where the Dark Lord was among the Light Wizards.

The Dark Lord apparated out, which signaled everyone else to do the same.

-0-

The dinner was almost over, which gave Braxton mixed feelings. He hated being surrounded by all the blood traitors, but at the same time he felt comfort being around his twin and surprisingly Christopher Black-Lupin. He spent the whole dinner just talking with him. They had similar interests and had the same views on everything they had discussed. Braxton had the feeling they were made for each other, but he shoved the feeling into a cage and locked it up tight with his mind boarders.

Lycoris spent the whole night complaining about the manors of the light wizards. Braxton almost sniggered he heard Lycoris say that Cissy would give all the light wizards a hiding for their manors. Braxton missed the Malfoy and Snape family, but he knew he would be seeing them at Hogwarts soon. The Dark Lord probably explained something to Lucius and Severus to tell their children the reason of the Dark Prince's absences. The first night of school Lycoris would probably sneak off to go snog Lauren somewhere, but he didn't seem repulsed from the idea of him and Christopher snogging. This made Braxton's pants go tight and he immediately tried to repress the thoughts right when they came up.

Braxton mentally cursed at himself, he shouldn't be thinking these things. He had just met the guy! If Chris knew what he was thinking he would think that Braxton was a perv, or was Chris having the same thoughts? Braxton shook the thoughts away, now wasn't the time for this. He needed to succeed at the mission, but maybe having Chris as a significant other could prove to everyone that he was adjusting more and more to the light. Yeah, maybe snogging Chris a few times wouldn't be that bad of an idea.

Screams from outside instantly made him stand up, reaching for his wand but then realizing that he didn't have it. It was confiscated when he first got here, but it didn't mean that he didn't have a habit of reaching for it. He could hear screams, and the sound of people running.

"Everyone outside, quickly!" James Potter yelled as he was one of the first ones out to discover what was happening. Braxton glanced Lycoris in confusion.

'Is this a raid?' Braxton asked not knowing why their father would have planned one tonight especially since they were here. Nicole started crying and Braxton picked her up rocking her gently and she calmed down a little. The other toddler, Destiny, was taken by Remus Lupin. Everyone quickly went outside, Braxton staying by Chris and Lycoris staying by Jonathan.

Everyone did as they were told and hurried out of the tent. By the light of the few fires that were still burning, he could see people running away into the woods, fleeing something that was moving across the field toward them, something that was emitting odd flashes of light and noises like gunfire. Loud jeering, roars of laughter, and drunken yells were drifting toward them; then came a burst of strong green light, which illuminated the scene.

A crowd of wizards, tightly packed and moving together with wands pointing straight upward, was marching across the field. Braxton instantly recognized them as some inner circle death eaters. He could feel the magical signatures of Lucius, Severus, and Kyler in the bunch. He needed to get Nicole and Chris out of here.

Before Braxton could utter a yell of run, the crowd of death eaters instantly gained speed towards them as if they were targeting Braxton. Lycoris and Ryan were right next to Chris while the others were lost in the panic. Braxton quickly passed Nicole to Chris, who took her without question. He nonverbally cast a protection spell on her.

"Little boy, what are you doing so far from home?" Braxton heard Lucius Malfoy taunt from behind his mask. His father had to of put them up to this, but he didn't know why.

"Leave me alone!" Braxton shouted back, playing along. Maybe this was to prove himself to the light side, to prove that he was willing to 'change', but really, he was blind sighting them. "I've learned of all the awful things that you've done and it's sickening!"

"Why Braxy, how you gone weak?" Severus Snape said from the crowd of death eaters. Braxton played along and pretended to get angry.

"No, I've just learned the truth." Braxton spit back, his accidental magic levels rising. "Leave, you're not welcome here." Braxton yelled. A curse was sent to Braxton and he easily deflected it. He was glad that the anklet wasn't restricting him from defending himself. Hopefully he could also cast small offensive spells.

"Stupefy." Braxton muttered putting his palm facing the death eaters as he mustered up some energy inside of him, knowing if he showed to much the anklet would break and he didn't want them to upgrade it. One of the death eaters in the bunch fell to the ground and more spells were shot back, which Braxton deflected each one. Chris was helping as he shot spells back and forth, while Braxton deflected everything.

"Take Nicole and run." Braxton shouted to Ryan(Lycoris) and Jonathan. Jonathan scooped up Nicole and they both ran off into the forest, Braxton defecting any spells sent their way.

As the spells flew in all directions, Braxton kept on deflecting them as best as he could. It wasn't a fair fight, 15 highly skilled death eaters against two boys, one of which had a magic restraining anklet on.

A white spell flew by him, barely missing Braxton but hitting Chris straight in the chest. Chris started gasping as he collapsed to the floor. His shirt was started to get soaked with blood. Braxton exploded with anger. His magic bursting over the top as he saw how much Chris was hurting.

It was like a fire was lit in Braxton and he couldn't control it. He yelled out in anger and his magic went everywhere, throwing everyone (except for Chris) 10 feet away from them. They couldn't get up, they were immobilized. Braxton couldn't control any of it, this was inner core magic that he was trying to get control of but hadn't has something to trigger it. He didn't understand why Chris getting hurt was triggering his magic in this way.

Braxton's felt extremely powerful and out of control. It was his adrenaline that was doing it, not his thoughts controlling it. Braxton raised all the Death Eaters into the air, he felt the panic inside of them.

"Do not mess with me or Chris every again. You will pay a heavy price if you do." Braxton said in a dark voice he didn't recognize himself. Braxton dropped the Death Eaters and then kneeled down next to Chris. He closed his eyes and put his hand on Chris's chest. Chris was breathing heavily, his eyes closed. He was trying to suppress his cries of pain. Braxton felt his energy drift from him into Chris. Instantly he felt a connection between him. He also felt the skin knitting together underneath his hand. Braxton was healing him. Braxton felt the energy drain from him as he collapsed onto the floor.

Braxton woke up in a cold sweat. He was on a bed in the room he first woke up in when the light side had captured him. It looked to be the Hogwarts infirmary. Next to his bed he saw Chris sleeping as well. Instantly Braxton remembered everything that had happened. He went deep into his mind and saw that a link had been formed between their minds, probably because of him healing him in that type of stage of magic. Braxton was also confused on why his magic had acted like that.

Braxton noticed that it was probably the middle of the night but there was no way he could go back to sleep. He swung his legs to the ground and pushed off the bed. He saw that his anklet wasn't there. It probably came off when his magical core was released. Braxton felt weak and deflated, probably because all the magic that he felt was probably safely sealed back in his core. Braxton stood up and took a couple wobbly steps to the bed next to him. He reached the bed and sat down in the chair next to the bed.

He looked down on Chris's sleeping figure and smiled softly. He was so peaceful while he slept. Braxton didn't know why Chris calmed him so much, but he didn't try to repress it anymore. He wanted, no needed, this type of peace in his life and Chris somehow granted that for him. Braxton brushed the hair from Chris's face and smiled. He set his hand down on the bed and he felt Chris stur.

"It's alright, go back to sleep." Braxton whispered softly which made Chris smile as he muttered something that Braxton couldn't hear. He then felt Chris take his hand and hold it in his. Braxton felt the warmth of Chris and it was calming. He could feel Chris's steady pulse. Braxton smiled and felt his eyes close, drifting him back off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: New Acquittances

Braxton's mind was completely blank, all he felt was a calming feeling. Like he was at peace with the world. He felt an attachment to something, no someone. Someone other than his twin brother. It wasn't unwanted, it made him feel safe and at peace, so he ignored that questions that popped up about it. He stayed in the warm comforts of the back of his mind where nothing could phase him. Usually he didn't escape like this when he was out of his Manor, but the detachment gave him comfort.

Braxton was in a library of books in the deep depths of his mind. This was his escape. Braxton was curled up in a chair with a book about the Darks Arts in his hands. He had read the whole entire library twice, which was quite an amazing feat since his manors library was over one hundred thousand books. Whenever he wasn't doing anything of importance he was in the library and his friends knew not to bother him when he was curled up with a delightful book. He had thrown way too many books at them whenever they tried to bother him. His friends knew to duck whenever they tried to talk to him the library.

"Braxton." A faint voice called out for him from the darkness around his library. The voice was comforting, luring him out of his haven. Braxton put his book down and stood up, confused of who could have called him. Nobody could branch through his wards around this place, even his twin brother. To see who it was Braxton cleared his mind and forced his consciousness out of his library.

"Lycoris?" Braxton muttered softly as he felt light on his eyelids. He groaned softly as the chair didn't do any good to his body. He muttered a soft spell that cured the aches in his body, not even fully realizing that he could do magic again. He didn't feel the ankle band anymore and he was beyond thankful. He opened his eyes and found the handsome dark-haired boy looking at him with a soft smile.

"It's Chris actually." Chris replied with a soft laughed which made Braxton blush lightly. He felt his hand still intertwined with the other boys, but neither of them made any objections.

"Sorry thinking about my twin brother." Braxton said automatically, not even thinking. It was like his mind trusted Chris with all this information. Chris tilted his head and his eyebrows came together in his confusion, which resulted in Braxton giving him the look of I'll explain later.

"How did you sleep?" Braxton asked softly with gentleness in his tone, which made Chris smile brightly.

"Quite well since you were here. Thank you for what you did." Chris replied shyly and Braxton nodded, not really understanding what he had done. He had been trying to activate that magic inside of him for years and Chris brought it out of him. If anything, he should be thanking Chris. When they would arrive at Hogwarts Braxton would need to have Salazar Slytherin's private dueling room where he could practice controlling his inner core magic.

"Really it was like a burst of adrenalin once I saw you in pain. It was like something took over me. It has never happened before." Braxton replied not knowing how to explain it.

"Whatever you did saved me none the less." Chris replied softly and gently squeezed Braxton's hand. Braxton laughed softly and moved a strand of hair out of Chris's face.

"I won't let anything hurt you. There's an attachment between us, I can't really explain it." Braxton replied and Chris smiled as he seemed to know the answer to the question, which made Braxton a little disappointed in himself. Usually he had the answer to everything.

"Every witch or wizard has soulmate. Once they meet they become connected and they're inseparable. Even though they physically just met each other, their souls have been looking for their other halves for years. I felt my soul link to you the first moment we met. The way your magic reacted when I got hurt, it just helps prove that you're my other half." Chris replied and Braxton looked away from the captivating deep brown eyes. He had read about this in books but heard that only a small portion of wizards got to meet their soulmates, Braxton never thought it important to find his so he never looked. His brother had found his, so he thought that was enough. His brother could produce heirs for their empire with Lauren so he really didn't need to worry about his line.

Braxton also knew that once you met your soulmate it would be painful to be separated from them. It was like how he was with Lycoris if they ever separated for extended periods of time, but he had heard it was worse. Braxton was linked to Lycoris and now he was linked to Chris. The bond between them also meant it would be hard to lie to Chris about his true intentions, or why they were here. He wasn't sure on how Chris would take it that he was a spy and was going to kill all of Chris's family. Probably something he shouldn't mention.

Chris stopped him from his thoughts as he grasped Braxton's chin to make him look into Chris's eyes. Braxton looked straight into his soulmates captivating eyes and he felt the lust and love that came off of Chris. Chris leaned in and closed the gap between them, placing his soft and delicate lips onto Braxton. Braxton was taken by surprise, but once he regained his composure he quickly took over showing who was dominate. Braxton pushed deeper into Chris as they're tongues clashed and fought, getting a feeling for each other. Braxton pushed himself onto Chris and climbed on top of him. Braxton put both of his hands-on Chris's head as Chris's hands roamed Braxton's body. Braxton had never been touched like this. It felt so good. A moan escaped Braxton's mouth as they continued to snog.

Braxton pulled away from Chris's needy mouth as he felt a magical signature from outside the door. They both panted as they stared deep into each other's eyes.

"The others are coming." Braxton whispered with a frown. He gave Chris another soft kiss and then quickly went on his bed, just in time for the door to open. Braxton sat up straight in his bed as James, Sirius, Remus, and Dumbledore walked into the room. Remus and Sirius bolted over to their son to check him over to make sure he was fine. Chris was perfectly healed because of what Braxton did the day before. James went over to Braxton to copy what Remus and Sirius did. He didn't particularly care for the boy, but he had to at least try to act like he did. James stood there awkwardly next to Braxton.

"Glad to see you're both awake." Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes, which made fire shoot up in Braxton. He hated the twinkle, it was obviously fake and was used to manipulate people.

"Glad to be awake after what happened." Chris replied with a smile, completely having gained his composure after the snog session they just had.

"Do either of you remember what happened?" Dumbledore asked as the other adults stayed quiet, just listening.

"I don't remember much. Just being hit with a nasty curse and then everything went dark." Chris lied, which made Braxton smirk in his mind, but he kept a straight face making sure to not show any emotion.

"All I remember was trying to defend Chris, but not being able to because of that wretched ankle band." Braxton spit back with a dark look in his eyes.

"You know that the ankle band was a part of the agreement, you-" James Potter yelled through gritted teeth and glared at Braxton, but was cut off by Dumbledore.

"But it seems that you somehow got the ankle band off and saved Chris. How did you manage to do that, my dear boy?" Dumbledore replied back and Braxton glared at the older man, completely ignoring James Potter. He kept his temper in check, not wanting to somehow upset Chris.

"I don't know. Once I saw Chris get hurt, something went off and I couldn't control myself." Braxton replied back, keeping the anger out of his voice.

"For the time being your ankle band will be kept on, but in due time I feel like you won't be needing it anymore." Dumbledore said and smiled brightly. Braxton concealed the grin that was tempted to plaster on his face. Everything was falling into place. Dumbledore was starting to trust him because he saved Chris's life. Dumbledore went over to Braxton's side and took out the disgusting band from his robes. Braxton's ankle wasn't under the covers so Dumbledore put it securely around Braxton's ankle.

"Now you boys rest up. You'll be needing your sleep since school does start again in almost a week." Dumbledore said and smiled.

"Dad, Papa? When are we going to get our school supplies?" Chris said looking up at his fathers.

"Whenever you'd like, son. I know Ryan's getting antsy to go." Lupin said with a smile and Black laughed softly. Braxton tried not to raise his eyebrow. Lycoris getting antsy, to go to Diagon Alley? Braxton was pretty sure the only reason he was getting 'antsy' was because he hadn't tortured or killed anyone in a while. And even then, that probably wasn't true. He mostly went back to his regular form to help with the raid. Braxton was still a little pissed off about not being informed about it, but he knew they couldn't have told him. He wasn't even sure Lycoris could talk to their Father.

"Can we go today? I feel so much better, thanks to Braxton. I don't even feel like I've been injured." Chris said and looked over and smiled at Braxton. Braxton couldn't conceal the smile that quickly showed up on his face. Braxton cursed himself as he couldn't stop himself.

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked, scanning his oldest child for any sign of injuries to try and stop them from going. James was staying quiet, to Braxton's surprise.

"I'm positive. Can Uncle James and his family come too?" Chris said and Braxton muffled a laugh. Chris was such a charmer and he was sure that Chris always got what he wanted.

"I uh-." James started, but was cut off with Chris pouting softly.

"Please Uncle James? I know Jonathan and Ryan would have so much fun running around Diagon Alley together doing their school shopping for their first year at Hogwarts." Chris said and pouted. Braxton knew that Chris's pouting would be used on Braxton a lot, which would make Braxton give in to anything that Chris would ask.

"Alright then, we'll accompany you." James said, finally giving in, Chris making a compelling argument.

"You boys try to get some sleep. Your families will be back in a couple hours to wake you up so you can get ready to go to Diagon Alley." Dumbledore said and Chris nodded, Braxton just stayed still not wanting to even acknowledge Dumbledore. James went over to Dumbledore and the other two adults joined them.

"Thank you, Braxton, for saving my son." Remus Lupin-Black said with a smile of gratitude. Braxton nodded as acknowledgment, the only thing he would give the adult. The adults left the room leaving them alone.

"Do you feel like sleeping?" Braxton asked him with a mischievous smile on his face. Chris laughed as he swung his legs off the bed.

"I can give you a tour of the castle, my love." Chris said and made his way over to Braxton. Braxton raised his eyebrow at the nickname.

"I'd first want a tour of you." Braxton said and got up. They both instantly grabbed each other, their lips locking, fighting for dominance. Braxton won, but Chris had put up a good fight. Braxton pushed Chris against the wall as his hands started to explore the other boy. Braxton started to trail kisses down Chris's jawline, which made the boy moan.

Braxton then released from the other boy, making Chris pout.

"My family always called me a tease." Braxton said and took hold of Chris's hand ushering them out of the room, after making sure nobody was outside the door. The tease part was true, but they called him a tease about him torturing. He always dragged it as long as he could, hearing their screams of pain always made him feel so powerful.

-0-

The two managed to go through most of the tour without snogging, even though Braxton was very tempted to push Chris against the wall. The castle was full of the morning daylight, it being almost close to noon. They had just finished with the Astronomy tower and they were making their way down the stairs.

"Sorry if I'm prying, but why do you have the ankle band on?" Chris asked softly as they held hands.

"Dumbledore doesn't trust me with free range of my magic. I come from a pretty dark family." Braxton said with a soft chuckle.

"Is Dumbledore even allowed to do that?" Chris asked with surprise. Braxton was glad that Chris didn't seem upset about the dark family part.

"That was one of the conditions of coming here. Once school starts he would replace the ankle band with something that would allow me to use some of my magic, but limit it." Braxton said and Chris frowned.

"Why would he do something like this?" Chris said and Braxton just shook his head with a laugh.

"My dear, you do not know Dumbledore like I do." Braxton said, which made Chris look up at him confused.

"What do you mean?" Chris questioned back and Braxton just laughed.

"In due time, you'll find out." Braxton said and Chris stopped pressing on the matter.

They walked down the stairs and into the dungeons so Chris could show him where the Potions class was.

"This is where we have Potions with Professor Snape." Chris said and Braxton laughed as they reached the door.

"I wondered when we would hit Severus's classroom." Braxton said and Chris raised his eyebrow at Braxton.

"You know Snape?" Chris asked surprised. Snape was always rude to the Gryffindors so he always saw the Professor in the worst of lights.

"Yes, he's my godfather, but don't tell people that. It'd like to keep it down low." Braxton replied, surprisingly comfortable with giving that information to Chris. He didn't know what had came over him. He shook the thought away and then knocked on the door, hoping that Severus was inside. Barely anyone knew about the connection he and Lycoris had with Severus, it was incredibly awkward when Severus found out that one of his godsons was dating his daughter.

"Come in." Severus yelled from inside after a second. He was most likely getting ready for the upcoming school year.

"Wait here. I want to speak to my godfather in private. I'll be back in a couple minutes." Braxton said and kissed Chris softly so he couldn't object. He then released from the kiss and quickly went into the room, shutting the door behind him. Severus was at the desk in the front of the room, there were desks in perfect rows with cauldrons on top of them. It was like the Potions classroom they had at the Manor, except this had more tables and was darker.

Severus looked up from his desk and he dropped the Quill he had in his hand. Severus quickly got up and ran over to Braxton and wrapped him in a hug, something very unlike Severus. Braxton chuckled and hugged him back.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again." Severus said softly, with relief in his voice. Braxton swallowed the lump in his throat, trying to make it go away. He had missed his godfather too. When he saw his father again he would most likely completely break down. He shoved the thought out of his head as he sunk into the embrace with his godfather.

"I'm sorry Sev." Braxton said softly as they released. Severus smiled softly and then proceeded to scan Braxton for any injuries.

"Does anything hurt? How are they treating you? How did you even get here?" Severus said, a million words a second, which resulted in a laugh from Braxton. This was so unlike Severus.

"I feel perfectly fine. James and Jonathan Potter are nuisances, but I digress. Lily and Nicole are fine, and I'm most likely going to take Nicole back with me to Slytherin Manor when the time comes. I feel raw dark magic in her. If harvested right, she'll be lethal." Braxton said and grinned.

"How did you get here?" Severus asked with confusion all over his face.

"It's a long story, that you'll most likely hear from Dumbledore soon. I'll be attending Hogwarts this upcoming year and Christopher Lupin-Black has been giving me a tour of the place." Braxton said and grinned. "Also, Lycoris will be coming this year too, disguised as Ryan Black so don't give him too much of a hard time." Braxton said, which resulted in a laugh from Severus.

"I'll try not to." Severus replied with a chuckle. "But I will be asking him a lot of questions."

"I must get going, don't want to leave Chris waiting too long. Make sure to tell my father that I'm safe and that everything's going fine." Braxton replied and Severus nodded, pulling Braxton into another hug.

"Be safe, snaklet." Severus said and Braxton smiled sadly. Snaklet was his and Lycoris's childhood nickname from both their parents and godfather. The word bringing back so many wonderful memories.

"I will Severus. I'll be back soon." Braxton said and released from the hug. With one last smile, he left the room to rejoin Chris in the hall.

-0-

Both boys made it back to the hospital wing before the adults showed up. Chris had mentioned something about the medi-witch that worked here being on vacation and that she'd be back in a couple days.

Since Braxton couldn't do any magic, Chris had spelled them both a pair of clothes to change into. Braxton took the black robes and went over to his bed. Chris had pulled the curtain so they could change in private. Chris saying something about not wanting to tease Braxton.

Braxton quickly changed and then put his dementor cloak back on top of it all. He wouldn't go anywhere without the cloak. He then concealed all the magic from the cloak, glad he could at least do that with his anklet on.

"You decent, my love?" Braxton asked softly, in a silky purring voice wanting to pull the curtain back when Chris wasn't ready, but he restrained himself.

"Yes!" Chris called back and Braxton pulled back the curtain and grinned. Chris looked so handsome in the navy-blue robes. Chris was sitting on his bed and smirking.

Braxton walked over to Chris and straddled him, placing a soft kiss on Chris lips. Chris ran his hands through Braxton's hair, making it all ruffled up. Braxton deepened the kiss as he pushed Chris back on the bed. Braxton heard stirring from outside and frowned. The adults always managed to come at all the wrong times. Braxton quickly pulled away from the other boy and returned to his bed. He quickly fixed his hair as the door opened.

Lily walked in and smiled at the sight of the two boys. The uncertainty of Braxton completely gone, it was like she trusted him since he saved Christopher.

"I see that you two boys are already dressed. Everyone's waiting outside. We'll be flooing to Diagon Alley." Lily said and both boys got up with big grins. They joined Lily outside to see the ruckus of the children. The triplets were running around the hall chasing each other as Ryan, also known as Lycoris, was chasing them around, trying to get them to stop. Jonathan was running after Ryan, giggling. Nicole was sitting down on the floor next to Destiny Black talking, Braxton was barely able to understand what they were saying. Destiny could make some fuller sentences than Nicole since she was a year older.

"The boys were already ready when I went in." Lily said to the other adults in the room. Once the triplets saw Chris they ran over to him and ambushed him in a hug. Braxton laughed as Chris was tackled by the triplets. Braxton looked over and saw Jonathan and Ryan laughing. Once Nicole saw Braxton she squealed in delight and started to run over to him, the best she could. Braxton laughed and picked up Nicole and kissed her on the top of her head.

"Good to see you too, my little raven." Braxton said and grinned. He put her on his hip securely, her head resting in the groove of his neck. He felt James Potter's glare and he repressed his smirk. Anything to rile up the eldest Potter.

'Why are you overfamiliar with the Potter brat?' Braxton heard Lycoris voice say through their connection.

'Can't you feel it Ly? She has some dark magic inside of her. If harvested right she will be a great threat.' Braxton transmitted back and after a second he saw Lycoris nod.

'I can feel it. So, she'll be blood adopted to our family and be made our little sister?' Lycoris asked and Braxton laughed softly, but nobody noticed.

'Yes, she'll be our new little sister. Her name will be Raven Merope Gaunt.' Braxton responded and Lycoris thought for a second about the name. "Let's give grandmothers name a new beginning, redemption."

'Lycoris, Braxton, and Raven. I like it.' Lycoris replied and Braxton grinned. He was glad that his twin excepted the new addition to the family. He just hoped that their parents would feel the same. The twins would talk them into it, like they did to everything.

"Alright kids, let's go shopping." Sirius said ushering them down the hall, leading them to the teacher's rooms. He had learned from Chris that Sirius, Lily, and James taught there. Remus wasn't allowed to because of his blood status, but he stayed at the castle with his family. The triplets and Destiny got to live here without them even being of age to attend Hogwarts.

'So, what happened at the Quidditch Tournament? I was helping the death eaters fight and then I felt like your magic exploded. Almost all the death eaters were wounded. I heard Father was not happy, but his anger disappeared after he was told that it was your doing.' Lycoris said and Braxton sighed in relief. He hated making his father angry, and merlin forbid that the anger was directed towards him.

'It was like father said about our core opening up. The way Chris was hurt triggered something inside of me.' Braxton replied, hesitant about continuing on his statement. He wanted to tell Lycoris.

'What's wrong?' Lycoris quickly asked, feeling something off about his twin.

'Chris is my soulmate.' Braxton replied back softly. A bunch of emotions flashed through Braxton's mind, emotions that weren't his. Anger, sadness, anxiety, uncertainty, and happiness.

'I'm glad you found your soulmate, but did it have to be a light wizard?' Lycoris replied back with a dry laugh.

'I didn't choose, my core did and you know that I put the dark first. If he doesn't want to go back to the dark with us, I will kill him.' Braxton replied back, his opinion not going to change. He hoped that it would never come to this, but if Chris kept fighting alongside the light then they were enemies.

'If that does happen, you will find someone else.' Lycoris replied back, comforting him. Braxton never wanted it to go that far. He was determined to make Chris dark, no matter how long it took.

"Hey what's wrong?" Braxton heard Chris say, bringing him out of his thoughts. He noticed that he was frowning, and he quickly covered it up.

"Nothing's wrong, my dear. Just missing my family." Braxton replied and Chris nodded.

"I get it, if I was ever separated from my family I would get homesick very quickly." Chris said and chuckled softly. Braxton smiled as he looked up at Chris.

"Being with you helps relieve it though." Braxton replied which made Chris blush a little. They finally stopped in front of a plain black door. Sirius went up to it and whispered something and the door immediately unlocked.

They went into the room, Chris and Braxton near the back of the group. Braxton looked around the homey living room. There were knick-knacks and pictures everywhere. One of them caught Braxton's sight. It was of a young-looking Chris flying on a broom chasing after a snitch.

'Oh good, another bloody Quidditch player.' Braxton thought to himself as he rolled his eyes. It looked like Chris was the Snitch catcher (Braxton never payed attention enough to know what the positions were called) on the Gryffindor team since he had Red Robes on.

That surprised Braxton a bit. Chris always seemed like a Ravenclaw to him, the smarts were there. Chris probably only went to Gryffindor because his bloody parents were in the house.

They moved over to the fireplace and Remus grabbed the floo powder.

"Make sure to pronunciate your words." Remus instructed as they all lined up. One after one, they disappeared in a puff of smoke to Diagon Alley. Soon all was left was Nicole, Destiny, James, Remus, and himself. James would apparate with Nicole and Remus would do the same with Destiny, since the little girls couldn't floo. Braxton stepped into the fireplace and grabbed the floo powder.

"Diagon Alley!" Braxton yelled and threw the floo down. He was wrapped up in a puff of smoke and he soon appeared at another end. He was covered in black dust and he was wobbly on his feet. He coughed and stabled himself. He stepped out of the fireplace and looked around the huge room. There were fireplaces lined up along the walls as people flooed from all of over the place.

Braxton quickly joined the group and went next to Chris. Braxton heart the pop of apparition as James and Remus arrived with the toddlers.

"Good, everyone's here. Alright we'll split up to cover more ground. Sirius, Destiny, the triplets, Jonathan, Ryan, and myself will go off shopping for the boys first year. Lily, Remus, and Nicole can take Braxton and Chris shopping for their fourth year.

Nicole was then handed to Lily and pouted a bit wanting to be with Braxton, put she didn't verbally protest. The other boys and Destiny left, leaving just their group.

"Alright, I have Chris's acceptance letter, so we'll go off that for the most part." Remus said and they all nodded. Braxton would most likely have different books than Chris, so he wondered how that would work out.

"Braxton, when you get your exams done I'll send in an order for your books and you'll get them right before we leave for the Hogwarts express." Lily said, answering the question in his mind. Braxton nodded as his reply.

"Let's get going. We'll have more time to shop since the younger ones also have to get their wands." Remus said and Braxton snickered inside. He wondered how that would work out for Lycoris. He already had a wand, and it was rare that a wizard had two wands. They would be in that store for a very long time.

Braxton followed next to Chris as they walked out of the floo room. Braxton looked around as the afternoon sun hit him. There was so much going around in the Alley, so much excitement and energy flowing from the children to get their Hogwarts supplies. Braxton smiled softly, he always wanted to go to school, but their father never allowed them. The Dark Lord didn't want his children to go to a school were Dumbledore was headmaster, and even then, he didn't want his children leaving his side. Period. He was very protective over them.

"Alright first stop will be at Madam Malkin's to get you boys some robes. I'm positive Chris has grown half a foot since last year." Remus said, which resulted in a snicker from Braxton. Chris was a little bit taller than himself, he would have loved to see Chris short.

Remus seemed to not be watching Braxton as much. He seemed comfortable that Braxton was there, the same went for Lily. Braxton didn't know whether to be relieved or angry. He was the Dark Lord's son after all.

They walked into the store and the adults went into the back looking through all sorts of articles of clothing, leaving the 4th years in the front of the store to wait for Madam Malkin.

Madam Malkin was a smiling witch dressed all in mauve. She went up to the front desk and started to jot stuff down on a piece of parchment.

"Hogwarts, dears?" She asked, not looking up.

"Yes ma'am." Chris replied politely.

"Another young man is being fitted up just now, go over there and I'll be right with both of you." Madam Malkin said and pointed to the other side of the store. Braxton's heart nearly stopped as he saw Draco being fitted by another witch. He couldn't believe his luck, oh Lycoris would be so jealous. Both boys went over to the footstools where they were to get fitted.

"Lupin-Black." Draco spit out right when he saw Christopher, him being a light wizard and all. He then turned to see Braxton and shot him a glare, keeping up his cover. It wouldn't look good for Draco to know Braxton, since Draco is from a dark family.

"Who is this? Another mudblood?" Draco spat as he rolled his eyes at Braxton.

"No need for that language, Malfoy." Christopher glared back. "And if you must know, this is Braxton. He is going to be attending Hogwarts this year." Christopher replied with venom in his voice.

"No need to be hasty Christopher, we don't need to stoop down to his level." Braxton replied back in a cool tone. He gave Draco an apologetic look for a quick second. He saw Draco receive it and he felt a little better. He hated treating his best friend like this.

"I've never seen you before at Hogwarts. Your muggle parents get killed? That why you need to attend school?" Draco replied with ease, a dark look in his eyes almost if he wanted to add that the muggles deserved it.

"I am Braxton Potter, James Potter's nephew." Braxton replied back with ease, his head held up high. He hated that he had to claim he was apart of a light family.

"A light wizard? You're just as bad as a mudblood." Draco glared at Braxton and Christopher. Braxton looked over to Christopher and it looked as if Chris was going to attack Draco. As if by luck, the witch finished up Draco's measurements and snapped her fingers, the robes vanishing.

"Your all finished up. Madam Malkin will get your stuff ready and you can check out." The witch told Draco and he hoped down from the footstool.

"Traitors." Draco muttered loud enough for both of them to hear. Braxton rolled his eyes as Draco walked away. Chris stepped up to the footstool and started to get measured.

"Ignore Malfoy. He's just a spoiled brat." Braxton said as Chris nodded and took a deep breath to clear away his anger. The witch snapped her fingers and a robe appeared on Chris. She then started to take measurements and adjust the length of the robe by pinning it.

"How's the professors at Hogwarts?" Braxton asked wanting to change the subject quickly, which Chris was grateful for.

"They're all quite far, except for Snape. He's always given the Gryffindor's a hard time. Didn't you mention that he was your godfather?" Chris asked and Braxton mentally swore at himself for giving out that information.

"Yes, my father and Severus are really good friends. My dad attended Hogwarts before he moved to Canada and met my mother. That's where he met Severus. He was in Ravenclaw while Severus was in Slytherin." Braxton lied easily.

"So that means my parents probably know yours." Chris said and Braxton shook his head.

"Probably not. My father was a 7th year when your parents were 1st years. He was Severus's tutor and they instantly become friends. My dad and Severus kept in touch after my father graduated and they became best mates." Braxton lied again and Chris nodded.

"I don't really know about my parents time at Hogwarts, only the mishief they caused with James and Peter. You wouldn't know Peter though, he's in Azkaban." Chris said and his eyes went dark at the mention of Peter. Braxton withheld his smirk. "He got your cousin killed and my family and the Potters never forgave him for that." Chris finished, Braxton very well knowing that it was him they were speaking of. The witch quickly finished the robes and they switched places.

"I wonder what's taking the others so long." Braxton said as they were still in the back of the store looking through stuff.

"Aunt Lily loves shopping for new things, Uncle James always spoils her with new clothes." Chris explained and Braxton laughed.

"Of course." Braxton replied as he thought of the dresses she must have in her closet.

-0-

They finally finished getting all their supplies for the upcoming school year, with the exception of Braxton's books. They went into The Three Broomsticks and grabbed a booth. They knew it would still be awhile for the others to join them and by the time they got back it would be late so they would just have to floo home. Braxton and Chris sat on one side of the booth while Remus and Lily the other. Nicole was in a high chair at the end of the table.

Braxton had his hand wrapped up in Chris's underneath the table. He allowed some of his magic to flow freely and it hummed around them. Braxton had a smile on his face as he took in the lovely moment. They all had ordered Butterbeers and Nicole a sippy cup full of pumpkin juice, which was her favorite.

"So, Lily, I heard that you teach at Hogwarts." Braxton brought up knowing it would spark a nice conversation. Lily's face light up and grinned.

"Yes, I do. I teach Charms, my favorite subject. I received my Charms Masters a couple years ago." Lily said proudly.

"That's quite an achievement, especially for such young a witch." Braxton replied and Lily blushed. Braxton would be getting his own mastery soon, being the youngest person to ever achieve a mastery. For the few that did achieve the task of a mastery, they were usually quite in the old age. So far registered, Severus was the youngest to achieve their mastery at the age of 26. Braxton made a goal so many years ago to beat Severus's record.

"I wouldn't call myself young." Lily replied and Braxton smiled brightly.

"Jonathan is barely old enough to attend Hogwarts, I would call that young." Chris pitched in and Lily blushed deeper. Chris hadn't said oldest since that would mean Harry and Chris didn't want to bring that up.

"Well thank you boys." Lily replied. Nicole started to shake her pumpkin juice in her sippy cup and she accidently let go, it flinging in the air. With Braxton's lighting fast reflexes he quickly grabbed it before it could spill on anyone. He returned it to Nicole with a smile.

"Try to be more careful next time, little Raven." Braxton replied and Nicole giggled and held onto her sippy cup.

"Nice reflexes." Remus said with a laugh. Remus's reflexes were a little slower than his, and he was a werewolf. All other magical creatures had quicker reflexes than wizards, but Braxton had proved this wrong.

"Thanks, I have trained a lot for the skill." Braxton said and Chris's eyebrow raised as he laughed.

-0-

Braxton flopped back in his bed after a long day. The others had joined them as soon as their butterbeers were gone, which meant it was time to return back home. They parted their ways, Braxton saying a silent goodbye to Chris, wanting to stay with him longer, but knew he couldn't. He had also said his goodbyes to Lycoris through the connection, but knew they could talk anytime and they would be reunited soon.

Braxton rose from his bed as he changed into just sweatpants. He hated doing things without magic, the muggle way. He went into the bathroom that was connected into his room and brushed his teeth and washed his face. He looked into the mirror seeing his bright green eyes reflecting him, the same bright green eyes as Lily Potter. His heart ached as he thought about his birth mother. He didn't know what to do with her, he wanted to kill her but a part of him wouldn't let him. He still had a connection to the women, no matter how much Braxton tried to shove it away.

He shook his head and splashed water in his face. He quickly dried his face and climbed into bed. As soon as he fell asleep he tossed in turned, his mind battling with itself about the people that had formed a connection with him. This would be a long year.


End file.
